Forgotten (ON HIATUS)
by ShadowHearthWalker
Summary: Harry stared at the outstretched hand and weighed his chances. Either he could refuse and go back to his family if he got out of here alive, or he could accept and fulfil his wishes and get revenge. Harry thought for a moment before taking the hand. Somewhere, a prophecy shattered into a million pieces. !Twin-Boy-Who-Lived !DarkHarry
1. Prologue

**.:Forgotten:.**

 _Harry stared at the outstretched hand and weighed his chances. Either he could refuse and go back to his family if he got out of here alive, or he could accept and fulfil his wishes and get revenge. Harry thought for a moment before taking the hand. Somewhere, a prophecy shattered into a million pieces._

 **Prologue**

 **Nobody POV:**

At St Mungo's, a single scream pierced the air that could only mean one thing: A new being had arrived.

Lily Potter was currently lying on a hospital bed, her red hair frizzy and her face red. However, she had a tired smile on her face. In her arms nested a new born baby boy with a small Auburn curl.

James Potter was ecstatic and had a large grin on his face.

"Let's name him James junior," He joked. Lily hit him on the arm.

"I was thinking…hmm…How about Callistus Christopher Potter?" She asked. James smiled.

"Good idea, Lily flower,"

Suddenly, the clock struck midnight and Lily screamed again.

"Oh my gosh! I'm having twins!?" She yelled in surprise and happiness. A few moments later, another baby arrived.

He was slightly smaller than Callistus who was now in the arms of a nurse, bawling his eyes out from being separated from his parents. He also had a small mop of jet black hair. He didn't make any noise at all, (unlike Callistus) and just stared at his parents in an almost accusing way. Lily was a bit confused at this. James, however, didn't seem to notice.

"Let's call him Harry James Potter!" He told lily, who put a hand to her forehead. He just smiled mischievously at this.

"Merlin help us if you've corrupted the boy by naming him after you," She groaned. James had a look of mock hurt on his face.

"Are you suggesting that I'd corrupt out son?" He asked, clutching a hand to his heart. Lily whacked him again.

"Oww, shesh, Lily flower," He held up his hands.

"Pregnant women can be so violating," He muttered under his breath, which earned him another whack as the result.

 **Chapter one:**

Harry and Callistus were in the playroom when Albus Dumbledore flooed through.

"Ahh, Lily and James, dears, could we talk please?" He asked, his eyes twinkling. Lily looked up from where she was baking cookies and James from where he was trying to steal some of the dough.

"Of course, Albus, come in," Lily said as she wiped her hands on her apron. A few seconds later, Albus Dumbledore gracefully stepped into the kitchen.

"Lily, James, good to see you again. I trust you and the twins have all been well?" He asked with a smile. James grinned.

"Yep. We're doing well, Albus. The twins are very happy as well. Yesterday, I caught Callistus trying to get on a toy broom. The kids gonna be a natural at quidditch, I tell you," He chuckled. Albus just chuckled, while Lily frowned.

"James! You are not going to teach him to fly until he is at least six!" She scolded him. James looked sheepish.

"Sorry, Lily flower," He told his wife meekly. Lily really could be scary when she wanted to be. Albus smiled with a twinkle in his eye.

"And how is Harry doing?"

This time, it was Lily who answered.

"Oh, he's doing great! He absolutely loves it when I read to him!" She chipped in brightly. James grumbled under his breath about 'bookworms' and 'Lily'. Lily ignored this.

"So, Albus, what is the reason you're here for?" She asked Dumbledore curiously. Albus sighed and the twinkle vanished from his eye replaced by a serious look.

"Lily, James, I have bad news for you. Yesterday, I was interviewing Sybill Trelawney for the position as the Divination professor. During the interview, she made a prediction, which she remembers nothing about now," Albus then pulled out a piece of parchment and began reading of it.

 _The one with the power to vanquish the dark lord approaches_

 _Born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies_

 _And the dark lord will mark him as an equal, but he will have the power the dark lord knows not_

 _And either must die at the hand of the other_

 _for neither can live while the other survives_

When Albus finished, both Lily and James resembled ghosts. When they finally got over their shock, it was Lily who spoke up.

"B-b-but, doesn't that mean either Alice Lomgbottom's son Neville, Callistus, and Harry?" She stuttered. Dumbledore nodded gravely.

"I'm afraid so. Both you and the longbottoms have defied Lord Volemort thrice, and they were all born as the seventh month died. However, Neville Longbottom has shown to be a very quiet baby, and so has Harry, while Callistus has already started to try mount a broom. Therefore, I am pretty certain that Callistus is the chosen one," He told them sadly. The Potters gasped and Lily started to cry.

"Oh, my poor babies! They can't even have a proper life from the moment they're born!" She sobbed. James awkwardly patted her on the back while sending a pleading look at Dumbledore.

"Isn't there anything we can do?" He asked desperately. Dumbledore nodded.

"That is why I am here. You must go under the fidelius charm. I have already placed the Longbottoms underneath them," He told them. James nodded.

"When can we move?" He asked.

 _6 months later…_

Peter Pettigrew bowed and kissed the hem of his masters robes.

"Pettigrew, what is your report on the Potters?" Lord Voldemort asked. Pettigrew cowered in fear.

"M-m-master, the Potters have asked me to babysit their twins tonight as they go on a romantic dinner at Sirius Black's house," He stuttered nervously. Lord Voldemort smiled gruesomely.

"So tonight the Potters will fall. Pettigrew, look after the children as normal. Do not let Potter and his mudblood wife onto anything. I shall attack tonight and Lord Voldemort shall rule!" He cackled. He paused then added casually.

"Oh, and Pettigrew? Crucio,"

 _Two hours later…_

"Oh Peter, thank you so much! I couldn't find a babysitter at all! Ok, so the boys should have dinner at six. The broth is all ready in the pantry, and they should go to sleep at 8. Don't forget to give them a bath and their milk," Lily told a frazzled Peter Pettigrew who nodded dazedly, his head spinning with instructions. He was saved by James who took pity on him.

"Come on, Lily flower. Peter, mate, thanks. We'll be back at 9," James nodded to Peter before guiding his wife out the door. The sound of apparation was the only sound heard for the count of twenty seconds before Peter took a deep breath and heading upstairs to the nursery. He walked along the halls before entering a red room with numerous toys and two cots in it. He walked up to the cots and peered inside. It contained a sleeping redhead who was clutching his toy lion. He smiled sadly. Oh, if only his master didn't have to kill them tonight. Oh well. His master would make this world a better place. What was two infants on a better world were wizards ruled and muggles were gone? He peered into the second cot.

A small face glared at him accusingly as if he knew what he was going to do. He had a tuff of black hair on his head. Peter remembered this as Harry Potter, or Mr grumpy face as James had nicknamed him because he always seemed to be glaring at everyone. The only one he was happy around was Remus and Sirius. He seemed to hate Snape, which made James happy. The first time Harry had seen him, he had thrown his bottle at Snape, much to his chagrin. Peter didn't bother to feed the boys since he knew the dark lord would kill them so there was no use. He sat on the Potter's couch and waited nervously. When the old grandfather clock struck 7, the most powerful number, Peter heard a loud boom that indicated the door being blasted open. Pettigrew closed his eyes and said a prayer.

 _'Lily, James, please forgive me'_

The dark lord stalked into the Potter's living room and sneered. Such tacky decoration. It was a shame that the Potter's were incurably _good_ and Potter had to corrupt the pure line by marrying a mud blood and producing two half blood brats. He saw Pettigrew cowering on the couch and laughed.

"Well done, Pettigrew. You have, for once, succeeded at something, you little rat. Crucio," He flicked his wand at Pettigrew lazily who started to scream and thrash around in agony. Leaving the rat on the Potter's couch, he climbed to stairs and blasted the door of the nursery open, his lip curling at the décor. One of the children immediately began to wail loudly at the noise.

' _So, this is the one prophesised to defeat me'_ He thought. His spy had told him that his so-called successor would be the red head.

"Callistus Christopher Potter," He muttered before letting out a laugh.

He raised his wand.

"Avada Kedav-," He cut of when he noticed a pair of green eyes staring at him and he prowled over to check.

"Harry James Potter,"

The child continued to stare at him with cold eyes, unblinking.

"You dare to stand before lord Voldemort and disrespect him?" He hissed angrily. "I will make your death miserable! Oh yes, I'm certain your cold dead corpse buried under a pile of rubble next to your twin's will serve as a very nice warning for your parents that they should off never gone against Lord Voldemort!" He let lose a laugh before directing his wand at the roof.

"Reducto," He hissed and the ceiling began falling on top of the children. One of the pieces of shrapnel hit the wall and bounced back and hit Callistus on the cheek, slicing it open and making the already sobbing child to do so harder. All throughout this, Harry remained untouched and continued to stare at Voldemort silently. Voldemort lost his temper.

"Avada Kedavra!" He directed his wand at Harry. He watched smugly as the flash of green light raced towards the boy, only to completely disappear on impact and fly back at him. He barely registered what happened in shock before the light hit him square on the chest.

 _Pain. Unimaginable pain unlike anything else he had ever felt coursed through his body. It was like a thousand cruciatus's being cast on him at the same time. He felt his soul leave his body and felt eerily calm despite the circumstances._

 _'Well, looks like the old coot and the order of the fried chicken got something wrong for once. Wonder if they'll admit it. Probably not. Honestly, mudbloods and blood traitors should be grovelling at our feet, not being superior to anything, not even insects'_ And with that last thought, the spirit of lord Voldemort floated out of Godric's hollows never to be seen again for years to come.

Peter Pettigrew felt something twange in his left forearm before disappearing. He checked to see what it was, and found that his dark mark was now barely visible. All across Britain, death eaters all felt the same thing in their forearms with varying reactions. Many wailed in agony at losing their beloved master, while one Severus Snape breathed a sigh of relief and went to inform Albus Dumbledore. Peter Pettigrew found the smouldering remains of his master's clothes and quickly hightailed out of Godric's hollows in his Animagus form and dissaparated right as the order of the phoenix arrived. As Dumbledore headed upstairs with a shell-shocked James and a sobbing Lily, he found the twins on the floor amiss the rubble of the collapsed roof along with Voldemort's robes and his wand. Lily and James rushed over to a twin each while Dumbledore stood aside and cleared the rubble. Callistus was wailing his head of.

"Albus! Quick! Come look!" Lily cried as she spotted Callistus's cut cheek. Dumbledore walked over and inspected it.

"Episkey," He murmured and the cut healed to reveal a white scar in the shape of a V.

"Lily, James, I believe Callistus has defeated Voldemort. He is our savior," He told them gravely. Lily and James looked worried at this.

"But Albus, how do you know that it was Callistus and not Harry?" James asked. Dumbledore sighed sadly at this.

"His scar radiates dark magic. It might have some nasty aftereffects on Callistus as he grows up," The Potters nodded sadly in resignation. It could have been worse. Callistus and Harry could have died.

"So, v-Voldemort is dead?" Asked Lily. Dumbledore nodded and smiled with a twinkle in his eye.

"WOOHOO! MY SON VANQUISHED VOLDEMORT!" James yelled at the top of his lungs and lifted Callistus in an embrace. Lily joined the hug as well. Albus stood by and watched happily. They were the perfect picture of a happy family. However, nobody noticed another baby staring at his happy family. The baby had regarded his family coldly. Why was everyone giving Callistus all the attention? It was obvious that _he_ was the one who killed the dark lord, yet everybody was fussing over Callistus, who was still shrieking his head off, checking him for injuries, hugging him.

 _'What am I? A piece of rubble?'_ Harry thought sarcastically watching his family coo over Callistus and Dumbledore contact the order. Watching his family, Harry knew that the years to come would not treat him kindly, and boy, was he right.


	2. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

 _Seven years later…_

Harry James Potter woke up to the sound of giggling and shushes. He sighed and climbed out of bed, glancing at his alarm clock.

The glowing screen stared up at him, displaying that the time was 11:59 PM at night.

' _Really,'_ Harry thought. _'Who could possibly be awake at this ungodly hour?'_ The answer became apparent a few seconds later.

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY!" Numerous voices yelled downstairs followed by a loud boom and crash. Harry sighed and glared at the door. Really, they woke him up just to wish Callistus Happy birthday?

"Happy birthday to you! Happy birthday to you! Happy birthday dear Callistus, the dark lord's demise, chosen one and quidditch star, Happy birthday to you!" James liked to add the excess name bit just to inflate his son's already humongous ego. Harry could hear the voices of James and Lily Potter, the Weasleys, Albus Dumbledore, Sirius Black, Remus Lupin and the Longbottoms as well as quite a few other's voices wishing Callistus a happy birthday.

They were wishing _Callistus_ a happy birthday. Just Callistus. Not him. Harry snorted. Then again, if the boy-who-lived-to-have-a-gigantic-ego had a twin brother, who would want to wish him a happy birthday, let alone barely acknowledge him, when they could coo and fuss and pamper and ego inflate the boy-who-lived-to-sit-on-Voldemort-and-squash-him? Of course, nobody knew that Harry was the actual boy who lived. Harry got a rather terrible grin when he thought of his parent's and the public's reaction when the real 'saviour' was the quiet, bookish, scarily intelligent parselmouth brother of the quidditch champion, according to James. Their faces would be hilarious when they found out they had been pampering the wrong twin.

Harry discovered that he was a parselmouth on accident a few days prior to the loud awakening that was Callistus's first birthday party. Yes, because fake saviour's are different to normal witches and wizards and need more then one birthday party and cake so they could defeat more dark lords by squashing them. Harry had been out in the garden reading 'The rise and fall of the dark arts' for the third time when he heard rattling and a beautiful green and blue diamond chequered snake slithered out from under a rock.

' _Stupid humans,'_ It hissed. ' _Scaring away my prey. Why, that fat juicy rabbit was going to be my dessert tonight. Now it's all gone,'_ It grumbled. Harry blinked and the snake turned it's magnificent head in his direction.

 _'Here's another stupid human. He kind of resembles the other one who chased away my dessert except for he has round things on his face and has a darker crown. It's a shame I can't bite any humans, else I would do so just to insure this one doesn't chase away more of my prey,' It hissed and glared at Harry, who blinked again._

 _'Excuse me Mr snake, please don't bite me. I won't chase away any of your food,' He hissed back at the snake._

 _'Oh, a speaker! We haven't had a speaker since him! Say, snake child, what is your name?' The snake hissed happily._

 _'My name is Harry. What do you mean, I'm a speaker? I'm speaking English!' Harry hissed back confused. The snake made a sound that sounded like a laugh._

 _'Harry, you are speaking the snake tongue. You are a parselmouth,' The snake hissed, amused. Harry blinked._

 _'Oh. Well, fair snake, what is your name?' He asked._

 _'I do not have a name, but my old companion from Albania called me Sonoro. I am a female diamond starred uniform snake. I am unfortunately the last of my breed as the humans have deemed my kin dangerous for our poisonous bite' It told him sadly._

 _'Oh. That's awful. Well, can I call you Sonoro?' He asked._

 _'Yes you may. Say, snake child, why are you out here by yourself and not with your eggbearers?' Sonoro asked._

 _'Well, you see, my guardians have all but forgotten about me in favour of my younger famous brother,' He told Sonoro, who bobbled her head up and down in a nod._

 _'Ahh. Neglecting one in favour of another. How humans have lost brain cells,' She hissed. Harry laughed._

 _'Yes, I do think that my parents have no brain cells. They disappeared the moment they got a taste of fame,' He told her._

 _'Well, Sonoro, where do you live?' He asked her._

 _'That fool you call a brother destroyed my nest this morning by crashing into it on his stick! Obviously, he doesn't know I am the very last of the diamond starred uniform snakes!' She hissed angrily. Harry sighed sadly. Sounded just like Callistus. Then he brightened up as he thought of an idea._

 _'Well, Sonoro, how would you like it if you were to live with me? You can stay in my room and venture out whenever you want. My parents and Callistus don't need to know either and I can hide you if they ever come in, not that they do,' He told Sonoro, who smiled._

 _'Thank you snake child Harry. I would gladly do so,' She hissed, then slithered onto his right forearm and stuck there like an armguard. Harry smiled and walked back into the manor with a new pet._

Harry glanced over at where Sonoro slept now. She was curled up on a large rock he had found for her. Harry noticed she was awake and saw the murderous glint in her eyes.

 _'Stupid humans,'_ She hissed. _'Waking me up for a pampered princeling's birthday party?'_ She hissed, annoyed. Harry grimaced.

' _Yeah. Unfortunately, that was Callistus's FIRST birthday party of the day,'_ He told her. Sonoro blew up.

 _'First birthday party! First birthday party! Next, he'll be demanding a half birthday party!'_ She yelled in parseltongue as angry hisses. Harry grimaced even more.

 _'Yeah, he already has that,'_ He admitted. Sonoro cut of her rant about how spoilt Callistus was and that if she could, she would spit acid on his hair just so he could get his first taste of the real world. She slowly turned her reptilian head in his direction.

' _And they don't even wish you a happy birthday?'_ She asked, deadly calm. Harry gulped and nodded. Sonoro got of her rock and slithered to the door. Harry bolted upright and ran to Sonoro.

 _'Wait, Sonoro, where are you going?'_ He asked frantically as she attempted to pry open his door.

' _I am going to go bite your brother,'_ She answered in the same calm tone. Harry panicked.

' _You can't do that! You'll be found and killed!'_ He cried at her in parseltongue. She just kept trying to open the door. Panicking, Harry grabbed Sonoro, who started hissing and thrashing around in his grasp.

' _Let go!'_ She hissed. Her tail caught Harry in the face, sending him sprawling back and hitting the floor.

' _Ouch!'_ He cried in parseltongue.

Downstairs, in Callistus's room that was the size of the Gryffindor common room (And resembled it too), everybody suddenly froze.

"What was that?" Asked Sirius uneasily, drawing his wand. Everybody else in the room did the same and glanced around. Lily moved to stand in front of Callistus while James went upstairs to investigate. The boy wonder himself was blinking and scarfing down cake like a vacuum on steroids sitting on his red and gold four poster bed.

"Mom, I wanted chocolate cake!" He complained. Lily gasped in horror.

"Oh no! My poor baby! He must be so hungry! How about in the morning, mummy will go and get you a chocolate cake for your second birthday!" She wailed while Harry sat in his room, rubbing his backside.

' _Snake child, are you alright?'_ Sonoro hissed, concerned. Harry grunted.

' _I think so,'_ He hissed back, wincing. They both froze not too differently from everyone else downstairs as they heard footsteps and a voice outside their room.

"I told Lily not too keep any of that old furniture in the attic. Why couldn't we just have vanished it? But no, we had too store it up here and now somethings fallen down and interrupted my precious Callistus's birthday," He grumbled.

The door handle turned.

Harry and Sonoro waited for what seemed to be an eternity and a half, but James Potter never burst into the room and hexed Sonoro. Harry and Sonoro saw the door turn again. Nothing happened.

"Alohomora," Still nothing. They could hear James pondering.

"Hmm, I'm sure it's nothing. Probably my collection of old broomsticks or Callistus's baby clothing Lily locked up. And with that, Harry and Sonoro heard James go back down the stairs. Harry breathed a sigh of relief.

' _Well, snake child, I wonder why that door never turned,'_ Mused Sonoro. Harry puckered his forehead.

' _Sonoro, I'm pretty sure that since I didn't want James to get in here, my accidental magic reacted and locked the door so James couldn't get in,'_ Harry hissed back, then stifled a yawn.

' _Well Sonoro, I'm going to go to bed now, again. After all, it is still 12 in the morning,'_ He hissed to Sonoro before clambering back into bed.

' _Goodnight Sonoro,'_

 _'Goodnight snake child,'_

As Harry drifted of back to sleep and Sonoro curled up on her rock, unaware to the fact that Molly Weasley was asking Lily where his room was and that Lily was vaguely waving it of saying 'Oh, you know,' that changes were happening and they were happening fast. This proved to be true in the morning.

 _Eight hours later…_

Callistus Potter lay in bed, snoring. He was clutching his honey golden teddy bear in his fist like a lifeline. As Lily Potter tiptoed into his room, she smiled. Oh, she was so happy and content with her family. With her kind and loving husband and a perfect, healthy son and a lovely home, everything was perfect. And as a bonus, Voldemort was gone, defeated by her son. She shuddered as she drew the red curtains and let a stream of sunlight into the room. That memory of her son, sitting on a pile of rubble, wailing because of his cursed scar, was forever imprinted in her memory. Thankfully, nothing had happened with his scar. God forbid if anything _did_ happen.

"Callistus," She sang. "It's time to get up, my little hero," (Yes, because all 'brave, selfless saviour's' need a wake-up song by their mother.) Callistus stirred and mumbled something that sounded suspiciously like 'Morning Ginny, I brought you a flower,'. Lily grinned happily. She could already see Callistus and Ginny together in the future. They were so cute together. "Callistus, your chocolate cake is here," She called again. Callistus shot up like a bullet.

"Cake?" He asked, fully awake now. Lily smiled.

"Yes, cake," At this, Callistus bolted out of bed and out the door, with Lily following close behind him. They made their way to the kitchen and Callistus scanned the room for his cake. When he saw it on the kitchen countertop, his face lit up.

"Cake!" He yelled and ran over. Lily yelped as he tripped and crashed headfirst into the cake.

"Callistus!" She cried and rushed over. Callistus was bawling like a baby as he sat on the floor, covered in his cake.

After she got Callistus cleaned up and calmed down (Lily had to promise Callistus a trip to Diagon Alley to compensate), Lily started to look around for what tripped Callistus. After minutes of scouring the kitchens with no luck, she finally allocated it as Callistus tripping as he ran too fast. Just as she started to cook breakfast though, she heard a voice.

"Good morning Lily. So, when is Callistus's second birthday?" It drawled coldly. She whipped her head around frantically, wondering how in the world Severus Snape had bypassed the Potter manor wards and found her. When she didn't see a bored, cranky potions master, she breathed a sigh of relief. Then she wondered who said that.

"Who's there?" She called tentatively. She scanned the room her eyes fell upon a dark, thin figure in the shadows of the kitchen corner. It stepped out of the shadows and into the light.

"Well, mother dear, aren't you going to answer my question? When is the wonder boy's second birthday?" Harry drawled mockingly. He was wearing a green and silver robe. Lily opened her mouth to reply but Callistus suddenly burst into the kitchen with James hot on his heels.

"I'm gonna get you! I'm gonna get you!" James yelled, chasing Callistus, who was shrieking with laughter. James and Callistus ran around the kitchen before James finally caught Callistus and pulled him into his arms. "Got you!" He cried, grinning. Lily shook her head, smiling, while Harry curled his lip in disgust. James was wearing his Hogwarts quidditch chaser hoodie while Callistus now wore a Chudley cannons sweater.

"Morning, Lily flower. What's for breakfast?" He asked, kissing his wife. Harry made a gagging motion, which didn't go unnoticed by James.

"What are you staring at?" He asked superiorly, turning up his nose at Harry. Harry rolled his eyes.

"Nothing, James. I'm just stating my disgust at the PDA. After all, there are children here," He replied in a mocking manner not too different to Severus Snape. James frowned at that.

"Well, we're going to Diagon Alley today for Callistus's birthday. Go dress in something that states you are a Gryffindor, not a slimy snake," He told Harry. Harry let out an inaudible hiss at the 'slimy snake' part.

"Well, dear James, I am affirmative I'm not some brainless one-track quidditch minded Gryffindor, so why should I dress like one?" He asked, bored, picking at his fingernails and discreetly nicking a piece of bacon from the countertop. After all, he was wasting brain cells trying to drill this into James's pea-sized brain, he might as well do something productive. James spluttered and muttered a few incoherent things before finally speaking up.

"But Harry," He tried with his best 'fatherly' smile. Harry rolled his eyes for what seemed like the hundredth time today. "The Potters have _all_ been in Gryffindor," Harry sighed.

"Well, James, then I guess Callistus inherited the 'brainless Gryffindor' traits out of the two of us," He told a speechless James, before heading upstairs to give Sonoro the bacon he had managed to steal right under Lily's nose.

 _4 hours later…_

Harry Potter stalked into the floo room, Sonoro attached to his left forearm under his robes. Lily, James and Callistus were already there. James was preparing to floo in. He took a pinch of floo powder.

"Now Callistus, if anything happens, you know where the emergency portkey is," He told Callistus, before flooing away.

"Diagon Alley!" He shouted and disappeared. Callistus leapt backwards.

"He's gone!" Callistus cried, pointing at the floo. Lily hurried over.

"Shh, it's ok Callistus, daddy's just gone somewhere else first to protect you. You can go next and mummy will go after you to protect you as well. You know you're our most precious thing in the world," She assured him. Callistus nodded and nervously took a pinch of floo powder.

'What am I," Harry thought sarcastically, "Ripped meat?"

"D-d-ACHOO-Alley!" He sneezed and vanished. Lily gasped and hurried after him. Harry smirked. It worked! The sneezing spell worked!

' _Now, should I be a good Gryffindor and follow my family like sheep and cattle, or go and complete my own errands?'_ He hissed to Sonoro.

' _Go and do what you need to, snake child,'_ She hissed back. Harry grinned and took some floo powder.

"Knockturn alley," He said clearly before vanishing into the floo.

Harry stepped outside the floo and into a dark bar with a few people in it, who were staring at him in shock that a child would be here. Harry calmly walked up to the bartender.

"Excuse me, but is this the vampire's drink?" He asked him. The bartender nodded, his eyes wide. Harry strolled out the door and into the alley.

' _Harry, the Leovardand's is right over there,_ ' Sonoro hissed to Harry. Harry followed her gaze to a small shop with dark windows and walked over, ignoring everyone. He opened the door and stepped in.

The inside of the shop was dark and dusty, with nothing inside except two wooden stools. A sudden rustle startled Harry and out of nowhere, a middle-aged man with brown hair and a curly moustache appeared.

"Who are you?" He asked Harry warily. Harry was about to answer when Sonoro peeked out. The man's face brightened.

' _Sonoro!'_ The man hissed, delighted. Harry blinked.

' _You're a parselmouth?'_ He hissed to the man, who gave him a startled berth.

' _Why hello there, young fellow. Say, Sonoro, would you care to introduce me to your new friend?'_ He hissed. Sonoro stared at the man.

' _Vincent? Is that you? What are you doing here? I thought you were working with the dragons! Oh yeah, this is my new companion, Harry Potter,'_ She hissed.

' _Well, Sonoro, I am still working in Albania. I just came back to Britain to visit my relatives for a few months, and I needed a job, so here I am. Also, Harry Potter? Twin to Callistus Potter? And you're a parselmouth? Interesting, interesting,'_ He hissed.

' _Harry, this is Vincent Njord, my last companion in Albania, where I was born. We're here because Harry needs a wand that can't be detected by the ministry of magic,'_ Sonoro told him. Vincent nodded.

"Hello, Mr Potter. Nice to meet you. Please call me Vincent. Why do you need a wand? After all, you're only seven. Oh yeah, and congratulations on taming Sonoro here and having the privilege of knowing the serpent tongue," He joked. Sonoro hissed and stuck her tongue out at Vincent.

"Hello, Vincent. I want a wand because I feel I'll need it in the time to come. My guardians don't know of this, of course," Harry said. Vincent nodded and then got to work measuring Harry's arm length.

"So, Mr Potter, which hand do you prefer, left or right?"

"Left,"

Then they got onto trying the wands.

"Mr Potter, unlike Ollivanders, we use a few more exotic ingredients, such as Basilisk venom and Phoenix tears. Granted, it's more expensive, but it's worth it since our wands are so much more powerful," Vincent informed Harry, who nodded.

"Hmm, not that one," Water shot out of the wand and hit Vincent in the face.

"Nope. I'm afraid not," A miniature explosion.

"Aha! This is Pinewood with dragon heartstring, 12 inches and imbued with unicorn blood, freely given, Rigid flexibility! Flowers had bloomed and birds came out.

"That'll be 63 Gallons, Mr Potter," Vincent told Harry, who handed him the money. He had found the money in a wrapped-up box that was supposed to be a second gift for his first birthday present from James. James probably was going to sneak it into his room for when he was older. Guess they forgot over his famous brother.

"Goodbye, Vincent. And thank you," Harry called softly as he left the shop with Sonoro.

"Goodbye, Mr Potter. I hope to see you soon," _'Take care, Sorono. I hope we can meet again,'_ He hissed to Sonoro.

' _Goodbye, Vincent. Try not to explode too many cakes,'_ She hissed. Vincent grumbled something that sounded like 'Wasn't my fault, the old hag made me' and they exited the store. Harry made his way to Diagon Alley.

Suddenly, a whirlwind of colours headed towards him and collided, blasting Harry back a meter onto the ground.

'Oww' He thought, holding his head. Pulling himself to his feet, he glanced around for what had crashed into him. A tall brown haired man lay on the ground in front of him, a dazed expression on his face. Harry waited for him to stand up. When he finally did, he gave Harry a sheepish look.

"Sorry about that. Say, could you tell me how to get to Diagon Alley?" He asked Harry, rubbing the back of his head.

"You turn left and go straight from here," He told the man Cooley.

"Oh, thank you! Say, what are you doing here, child?" He asked curiously. Harry glanced at him, bored.

"And pray tell, what is thy business in that matter?" He drawled. The man blinked. He obviously didn't expect this.

"Look child, this place is dangerous. Here, let me escort you out," He told Harry, and made to grab his left forearm.

Right where Sonoro was.

As the man's hand reached towards his arm, Harry suddenly jerked it back with surprising speed.

"Do not touch me," He hissed. The man mistaken this as the child's 'stranger danger' instinct and held up his hands submissively.

"Child, this place is dangerous. I'm going to escort you back to where your parents are waiting for you in Diagon Alley, ok? What's your name?" He told Harry softly. Harry stared at him.

"And what if my parents are in Knockturn Alley, shopping? What would they say when they finally found me and I said you abducted me?" He asked lazily. The man remained redolent.

"Look, I know you want to explore Knockturn, but this is a dangerous place for a child. You don't know what hangs around here. My name is Frank Longbottom, and I'm a auror. You can trust me," Right on cue, he turned to a woman with blood red eyes that went past and shuddered. Frank went to grab Harry again on the arm. Harry took the chance and punched the man in the nose.

Frank stumbled, but whipped out his wand to petrify Harry. When he looked back up, Harry was gone.

"Where did he go?" Frank wondered.

Meanwhile, Harry was hightailing out of there. He saw a small, dark alley between two shops and slipped in.

' _That stupid man," Sonoro grumbled._ Harry silently agreed and they slipped out the alley and found themselves in Diagon Alley.

Harry and Sonoro wandered around the street, looking for the telltale signs of screaming, reassurance and cameras to find his family. At last, he spotted them, sitting alone in Florean Fortesquetes, which was about as rare as a Hungarian Horntail in Albus Dumbledore's office. Harry managed to slip into at the table his family were at when they went to get Callistus more ice-cream. When they came back, they were so occupied with wiping the ice-cream off Callistus and fussing over him that they didn't even see Harry, let alone notice he was gone.

'Good. I like it that way' Harry thought as he sneered at his family. He was about to leave to go to the bathroom when the ice-cream bar stirred nervously as if an invisible cloud of gloom had arrived. A few moments later, Harry heard a loud boom accompanied by the sound of a woman screaming. Then all hell broke loose.

 **Hello guys and-HOLY COW! 18 FAVOURITES? You guys make me so happy… Sorry for not updating so long, but that was due to the fact that I was kinda stuck on ideas for this chapter and I have exams currently. Anyways, the next chapters should be up quicker since exams are halfway done. As for my other story, if you were wondering, I'm not going to work on it so fast since I like this one better. Thanks for reading and please review!**


	3. Chapter 2

Chapter 2:

 _Last time on Forgotten…_

 _He was about to leave to go to the bathroom when the ice-cream bar stirred nervously as if an invisible cloud of gloom had arrived. A few moments later, Harry heard a loud boom accompanied by the sound of a woman screaming. Then all hell broke loose._

Down in the alley, people screamed in terror and drew their wands. Harry tensed and looked around warily. He saw Lily portkey out with Callistus while James rushed outside with his wand out in front of him and snorted. Nobody payed Harry any heed as they either apparated out or drew their wands. Harry knew he should off run, or hid, but _something,_ he just couldn't quite put his finger on it, but something was leading him, almost pulling him, out of the door and out of the Florean Fortesques.

Harry looked around the alley, which was full of screaming people, disapparating people, and people with wands drawn. Making his way through a particularly thick thong of people, he finally glimpsed what was causing all the commotion.

There, outside of Gringotts, were a squad of about twenty figures in black robes and a white mask. They were drawing their wands and pointing them in the sky.

' _How did they get out of Azkaban?'_ Harry hissed to Sonoro, who did the equivalent of a shrug. He ducked into a nearby alley before anyone could notice him and turned to the death eaters again.

One of them cackled in a high pitch. She was obviously female.

"Wizards and witches of the wizarding world, hear us now!" She screamed. Harry winced at the high tone.

"You might think that the dark lord is gone. The auror's and the order of the fired chicken might have told you he's gone, and everything's pitch perfect, but that is false. The dark lord will rise again and everyone shall bow down to him!" A second, male voice shouted. The death eaters all raised their wands.

"The dark lord!" They all shouted and fired a spell into the air in unison. The remaining people all ran away screaming and the air was suddenly filled with loud popping noises.

'The aurors!' Harry thought.

Around thirty men and women in grey and white robes suddenly appeared and started throwing spells at the death eaters. More men and women apparated in, this time wearing scarlet and gold robes.

'The order of the phoenix!' Harry realised. The aurors and order were now throwing spells in rapid succession at the death eaters, but it was like there was a shield around them. All the spells disappeared five meters away from the death eaters, who were laughing at their attempts.

"Morsmodre!" One of them shouted. Harry watched in morbid fascination as a green skull with a snake coming out of its mouth rose into the air.

He tensed.

He could feel it. He could feel the pull of magic that signalled something or someone was going to come. Something extremely powerful.

And it came.

Two figures appeared at the same time at different sides of the street.

On the right side, in front of the aurors and order, was a tall man wearing a pair of periwinkle robes with golden stars on them. The man wore a tall hat and his long white beard was tucked into his belt. His eyes also lacked their usual twinkle.

Harry snarled.

' _Albus Dumbledore'_ He hissed to Sonoro who glared at the man.

In a roundabout way, Albus Dumbledore was responsible for his life. Had he not claimed Callistus Potter the 'saviour', Harry could very possibly not have to sleep in an attic due to the fact that Callistus liked to mess with his things for fun along with his pals such as the blood-traitor Weasley, Longbottom and Finnegan. Harry sneered just thinking about them. James and Sirius Black both claimed the quadruple the 'second generation Marauders'. Dumbledore also had given Callistus private lessons in magic, and after those lessons, Callistus would always shoot spells such as _Langlock_ and _Defango_ at Harry for entertainment. The 'second generation Marauders' would roar in laughter as Harry tried in vain to regain his dignity. And every time this happened, Harry would curse Albus Dumbledore for teaching his twin _prank_ spells. Honestly, what were prank spells going to do against Voldemort? Was he going to walk up to Voldemort and give him _acne_? It didn't help that Lily and James always encouraged their son.

On the left side of the street stood a figure wearing regal purple robes. He was bald, had a face that was pale as paper, had no nose and his eyes were blood red.

'Lord Voldemort' Harry gasped mentally.

Growing up to the twin of Callistus Potter, Harry was basically left to his own devices. Lily and James only paid attention to him when he did things such as wearing Slytherin robes out in public. Heck, the only people who truly cared about Harry was Remus Lupin and the _house elves_. They made sure he was fed and watered. Harry mainly spent his time in the Potter library, which was simply amazing. Harry enjoyed reading about the dark arts, and he thought that Lord Voldemort was not evil.

No, he simply thought that Purebloods were better. And Harry completely agreed. Filthy muggles. Just look at Lily's sister, Petunia. Unappreciative of the talents and blessings of wizard kind.

Lord Voldemort's snake like slit eyes turned to the order and aurors, who seemed to be petrified at the sight of the dark wizard. Dumbledore just stared and blinked at Voldemort before gaining his calm, grandfatherly façade again.

"Hello Tom. It certainly is a surprise to see you here today, with the aurors here," Dumbledore spoke, while slowly drawing his wand inconspicuously. Voldemort, however noticed the slight motion and raised his wand in a flash.

"Dumbledore, you old coot. You certainly didn't expect this, did you?" Voldemort hissed. Then, he let out a cruel laugh.

"No matter, I shall destroy you and what you love today!" And with that, Voldemort smiled his grotesque smile.

"My loyal followers, come, for today we shall destroy the light and all they fight for!" He shouted.

"Everybody, defend the alley!" Dumbledore roared and raised his wand at the same time Voldemort did. On cue, loud pops filled the air.

More aurors, order members and death eaters had arrived.

With a shout, the death eaters broke their shield and charged at the light. The light did the same.

All throughout the spell fire, Harry watched with baited breath and prayed he would not be found, or worse yet, hit. He slowly crawled backwards got to another small alley which he ducked into and ran down. The alley deposited him outside of the leaky cauldron, which Harry rushed into.

Looking around, Harry found that the place was empty. Abandoned chairs and food lay scattered around the place. Tom the bartender was nowhere to be seen.

Harry wildly looked around.

'There!' He thought and rushed over to the floo. Peering inside the pot, he saw that there was one more pinch of floo powder left. Harry took it and threw it into the floo.

"Potter manor, second atrium!" He yelled. The swirling fire turned green and he stepped in, to arrive in a golden room the size of a classroom. This was the Potter's second atrium, in case their first was blocked. Harry tiptoed to the grand staircase.

' _Shh'_ Sonoro hissed to Harry, who shot her an annoyed look. He made it to the top of the stairs. He went into the attic room.

' _Sonoro, where do you think I should keep my wand?'_ He hissed.

' _You should always keep it on you. You don't know when you'll need it'_ She hissed back. Harry nodded.

' _Hold on Sonoro. I need to use the bathroom,'_ He told her and deposited her on her rock. She hissed happily. Harry crept back down the stairs to the nearest bathroom. On the way there, however, he heard voices and froze.

"Lily, the floo has been recently opened," He heard the voice of James Potter. Lily Potter gasped.

"Oh no! Is it death eaters? They could hurt my poor Callistus!" She cried.

"Relax, Lily. The floo is channelled to only let in people we have approved of. Only family members can get in without my noticing," He assured her.

"But, who could it be?" She wondered. They pondered until James yelped.

"It's Harry! He was using the floo!" He yelled. Then he frowned.

"But where did he floo in from? I thought he didn't even come with us to Diagon," He told Lily.

"Well, he must have. Who else could it have been? Let's go look for him to ask him," Lily said and they began climbing the stairs. Harry saw the top of their heads appear and adopted a stiff position.

"Ahh, Harry. There you are. Say, where were you today?" Asked James with a smile. Harry regarded him coldly.

"How is that any of your business?" He sneered, looking a lot like Severus Snape. Lily and James blinked at the similarity.

"Harry," Lily tried. "We're just worried about you. Were you at Diagon today?" She asked. Harry snorted.

"If you must know, I was with you guys all along. I just stayed at florean fortesques while you guys went to rescue our wonder boy," He told them distantly. Lily and James nodded and started heading back down the stairs, no doubt to pamper Callistus some more.

Harry smirked and went back to the library to get some more books. He spent a few hours reading _the book of transfiguration Grade 3_ before getting a house elf to serve him dinner. Then, he washed up and went to bed.

' _Goodnight Sonoro'_ He hissed while slipping into his covers.

' _Goodnight, little one'_ She hissed back.

Meanwhile, downstairs, at the living room, three adults sat around mugs of hot chocolate.

"Albus, what should we do?" Lily Potter asked nervously. Albus stroked his beard in thought.

"This is going to be a problem if we don't help it," He said while nursing his hot chocolate.

"Albus," James spoke up. "Why don't we send him to Lily's sister Petunia? If we keep him, he could distract Callistus from his training and he will always feel second to Callistus. He'll be jealous and when they get older, he'll try to hurt Callistus. He could be the downfall of the wizarding world!" Albus and Lily nodded solemnly.

"It's decided then. First thing tomorrow, we'll send Harry to Petunia," Lily decided. The three adults nodded. They drank their hot chocolate and made small talk. At last, Dumbledore bade the Potters farewell. The morning dawned bright and early, as if mocking Harry.


	4. Chapter 3

Chapter 3:

 _Last time on forgotten…_

 _"It's decided then. First thing tomorrow, we'll send Harry to Petunia," Lily decided. The three adults nodded. They drank their hot chocolate and made small talk. At last, Dumbledore bade the Potters farewell. The morning dawned bright and early, as if mocking Harry._

Harry woke to the sound of something loud heading up the stairs. Yawning, he stretched and greeted Sonoro, who grumbled and blinked. Harry heard voices.

"Hmm, now where is Harry's room again?" James frowned as he checked rooms. Lily was also doing the same thing.

"I think it's here," She told him and opened a door which lead to an empty storage room. "Never mind," She sighed.

"Damn, where could his room be? I remember it was in the east wing somewhere. Well, we still have to search the attic," Lily and James started to climb the stairs up to Harry's attic room. Harry grabbed Sonoro, despite her protests, and put her on his left forearm. Then, he bolted out the door and to the stair landing.

"Good morning Harry," Lily smiled. Harry immediately became suspicious. Lily and James usually didn't acknowledge him.

"What do you want?" He asked coldly. Lily and James exchanged glances.

"Well Harry," James started. "We were thinking, that since Callistus is getting more advanced in his learning, we don't want you to feel jealous and resentful to Callistus. You could be a danger to both Callistus and yourself, so we have decided to send you to your aunt Petunia's place to protect yourself and Callistus. You must understand, Harry, that we are doing this to protect you and Callistus," He told Harry. James and Lily put on a sad face and got ready to placate Harry's pleas and screams. They however, didn't expect Harry's reaction.

When James finished his explanation, Harry's face lit up.

"So, does this mean I won't stay with you guys anymore?" He asked happily. Lily and James nodded.

"I'll go pack!" He yelled, charging up the stairs.

"Wait!" James called. Harry stopped.

"Yes?"

"Why don't you want to stay with us? After all, we are the parents of the boy who lived, super famous and extremely rich," James asked. Harry stared at him.

"Idiots," He said, his face shocked. "I am related to idiots," He snorted and shook his head.

"Wow, all that fame and quidditch is getting to your head," He told James, who blinked.

"Anyways, I'm going to go pack now. Can't wait to get away from you guys, even if it is aunt Petunia," Harry told them. Still chuckling, he headed up the stairs to the attic, leaving Lily and James blinking and wondering what in the world just happened.

Upstairs, Harry smiled. Yes! He could finally get away from these egotistical, idiotic people! Woohoo!

' _Sonoro?'_ Harry hissed to his left forearm. ' _You can come out now,'_ She peeked her head out and Harry put her on the floo gently.

' _Wow. Just wow. I do not have any more words to express my opinion on what just happened,'_ She hissed. Harry laughed.

' _Well, better get packing. Can't wait to leave this hellhole,'_ Harry told Sonoro. She bobbled her head and Harry deposited her onto her rock.

Harry managed to find a trunk somewhere around his room, no doubt Lily or James's old one. He shovelled his meagre amount of possessions into the trunk, along with books from the library and Sonoro's rock, which made her hiss in annoyance. Harry smiled apologetically and resumed packing.

About ten minutes later, everything Harry owned that he wanted to take was in the trunk. Sonoro slipped onto his left forearm and Harry strapped his wand to the wand holster on his right forearm which he had also found in the attic.

Making sure that he had everything at that Sonoro and his wand were covered, Harry pulled his trunk to the door. Really, it was rather light, even with the books. He left his room for the last time for possibly his whole life, and began carrying his trunk down the stairs.

 **Now, you might be wondering, how did Harry, a skinny seven-year-old, drag a trunk with all his possessions inside down the stairs with no big struggle? Well, being the forgotten twin of Callistus Potter had downsides.**

Harry saw Lily and James in the dining room, eating breakfast with Callistus. From what he could see, Callistus was flailing around and throwing a temper tantrum. Lily and James were trying to calm him down, to no avail. Harry watched this in amusement from the dining room doorframe. After about 5 minutes of Lily and James pleading with Callistus, who was refusing to eat his breakfast because it contained no chocolate, he cleared his throat.

Lily and James turned around so fast it was a wonder they didn't get whiplash, while Callistus just gawked at Harry.

"So, you finally noticed. About time," Harry yawned. "When am I leaving this hellhole? I'm all packed and you're wasting my time here," He drawled. Lily and James just blinked at him.

"What's the matter? Cat got your tongue?" He mocked the adults, who finally came out of their stupor.

"Harry dear, come join us for breakfast," Lily said warmly. Harry merely raised an eyebrow.

"I think I'll pass. Now, when are we going? Time's a-ticking," He said serenely. James's face grew angry.

"Harry, don't talk to your mother like that," He warned. In a flash, Harry's calm demeanour vanished.

"My mother?" He snarled. "I don't have a mother," He said coldly. James frowned.

"Harry, are you alright? Lily and I are your parents. Callistus is your twin brother," James said.

"No. I don't have a mother, father or twin. There is only one Potter child you and Lily care for, and that is our resident wonder boy, Callistus Potter, Spoilt brat extraordinaire, sugar addict," He smirked. James turned red and Lily gasped. Callistus spoke up for the first time that Harry arrived.

"How dare you insult me," He said belligerently. "I am the boy-who-lived and I defeated you-know-who! You should be grateful for me!" He shouted.

"You tell him, son!" James called. Harry's lip curled in disgust.

"Oh really?" He challenged. "If you defeated Voldemort, they why do you fear his name? Even if he is supposedly dead? Have you not heard the news?" Harry sneered and snatched the _daily prophet_ off the table and thrust it at Callistus, who went cross eyed looking at it. In big bold lettering, the big auror-death eater face off yesterday was announced.

 **You-know-who is back! Attack in Diagon Alley!**

 **By: Rita Skeeter**

 _Yesterday, on the 31_ _st_ _of July, death eaters attacked Diagon Alley! They apparated in and formed some sort of protective circle that prevented anyone outside the circle to hex them. One female death eater, most likely the notorious Bellatrix Lestrange, announced that the dark lord was reborn. Then, the death eaters took up the cry. It sent shivers down everyone's spines. Suddenly, however, the auror's and some other witches and wizards arrived to fight against the death eaters. But that was not all! In unison, two figures apparated in! In front of the auror's stood Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore,_ _Order of Merlin - First Class, Grand Sorcerer, Supreme Mugwump of the International Confederation of Wizards, and chief warlock of the wizengamot. His wand was drawn and he had a steely glint in his eyes as he faced his opponent, the notorious he-who-shall-not-be-named! The auror's and death eaters engaged in a deadly duel, where the auror's finally rounded up the death eaters and managed to capture half. The rest disapparated along with you-know-who. You-know-who had been reformed by his loyal servant, Bartemius Crouch junior. We can only hope that dark times will not befall us like before._

 _For more information on Bartemius Crouch junior, go to page 11._

 _For more information on Albus Dumbledore, go to page 5._

Callistus frowned at the paper and was about to take it from Harry's hand when someone snatched it from Harry.

"Oh, Callistus honey, you don't need to see that," Lily hastily crumpled the paper. Harry sneered but didn't say anything.

"So, when do we leave? You're wasting time," Harry said impatiently.

"Remus is coming to send you to the Dursleys in ten minutes," James told him. Harry nodded wordlessly and continued to stand, observing the Potter's cooley as they continued to try sooth Callistus, who was now demanding to see the paper.

'Pampered brat' Harry thought.

 _Ten minutes later…_

The doorbell rang, signalling Remus's arrival. James jumped up to greet him.

"Ahh, moony, thank you for coming today. We have to take Callistus to get his dress robes," He smiled. Remus nodded.

"It's alright James. I really didn't have anything else to do. So, where is Harry going?" He asked.

"We're sending him to Petunia's to protect both him and Callistus," At this, Remus frowned.

"Why would you need to send him away? How could he be a danger?"

"Well," James explained. "Yesterday, Harry flooed in around twenty minutes before the battle of Diagon alley began. We feel that Harry was doing it to get attention and feel that he could harm Callistus and himself if he stayed any longer. So, unfortunately, we must send him to Lily's sister, Petunia, who is a muggle," James didn't look very unhappy at this as one who was sending their eldest to their magic-hating muggle in-law should. In fact, he was contrary the opposite.

"So, Mooney, want to come in for some breakfast before you go?" James asked, but was taken back by the look of fury on Remus's face.

"No thank you, _James,"_ The normally calm and placid werewolf spat the last word at James, who looked shocked.

"You really believe that _Harry,_ of all people, would try to draw attention to himself?" He snarled.

"The poor kid was probably confused beyond measures when Lily and Callistus portkeyed out without him and you went gallivanting off to fight death eaters," Remus continued.

"You are fortunate he is smart and managed to floo out by himself, otherwise you might have one son in the grave," Here, Remus paused, then snorted. "Not that he considers you a _father_ at all," He sneered. James was still staring at shock at usually calm and peaceful friend. He seemed to be in shock more than he wasn't these few days…

"But no, you would never abandon your precious _Callistus,_ the boy-who-lived, in a street that was under attack, would you? The death eaters would not have cared if it was Callistus or Harry they killed!" Here, Remus was practically yelling. He stopped for a moment to calm then, then glanced at James's face that was still in a shocked expression. Remus shook his head sadly, wondering when the fame had messed with his friends head, and headed inside Potter manor past James.

"Harry," He said as he approached him. "We're going," Harry nodded and let Remus levitate his stuff out the door, past the shocked Potter's both in the doorframe and out, who had all heard the tongue lashing that Remus had given James. Right before they were about to disapparate, though, Remus turned to James.

"James, I do not know when, but at some point the fame must have gotten to your head. I never want to speak to you, Lily or Callistus again until you change your behaviour," He told James. And with that, they were gone with a *POP*.

They reappeared in an empty, secluded playground in Surrey. Remus took a deep breath, and scanned the area for muggles that he would have to _obliviate._ When he saw none, he sighed in relief. Honestly, he was awful at memory charms. Silently, Remus and Harry walked out the playground into a street that was one of those annoyingly perfect streets. Privet drive was like that. The houses were all neat and implacable, with not a blade of grass out of place in the front gardens. Not one house had a scratched piece of paint, a drooping flower of a grown-awry hedge. They walked down the street until they came to No.4 Privet drive. This house was no difference to the others.

Taking a deep breath, Remus raised a hand and knocked on the door.

A few moments later, a thin, horsy woman with an I'm-better-than-you air greeted them.

"Hello," She smiled. "How may I help you?" She asked. Remus cleared his throat.

"Are you Mrs Petunia Dursley?" He questioned. She continued smiling.

"Why yes, I am! Why do you need me?" Remus took another deep breath and spoke.

"My name is Remus Lupin and I am a friend of your sister, Lily Evans Potter. This is their son Harry, and they have demanded you take him in and raise him as they have claimed he would be a 'danger' to his twin, Callistus Potter, the saviour of the wizarding world, and himself if he were to stay in Potter manor," As soon as he mentioned Lily, Petunia's smile melted into a snarl quicker than you could say 'Quiddich'.

"Get in, quick, before the neighbours see you," She hissed at them and shepherded them in quickly. She then shut her door.

"You freaks! We made it clear we don't want any more to do with _your kind,"_ She hissed. "And Lily is not my sister! She wasn't my sister any more from the moment she got the blasted letter!"

"Mrs Dursley," Remus held up his hands. "Please, take in Harry. You are his only hope," He pleaded.

"Fine," She spat. "But don't expect me to take care of him," Remus sighed and suddenly look much older than he was.

"Mrs Dursley, Harry, I must take my leave now. Goodbye, Harry. I hope you won't be too unhappy here. Mrs Dursley, thank you," Remus sighed once again and walked out the door.

Once Remus was gone, there was a silence in the house, until the door suddenly opened again.

"Pet, I'm home!" A male voice called.

"Coming, Vernon," She called back, and hurriedly opened the door to admit a large, beefy man with a large moustache and a purple face. Once he saw Harry, his face turned more purple.

"You!" He bellowed. "You freak! What are you doing here?!" He demanded, then turned to Petunia.

"Vernon, just now, another freak delivered him here. Said we had to take care of him since he could be a danger to his twin and himself," She explained and shot Harry a disgusted look. Vernon became even more purple, if possible.

"They think they can just pawn off one of their freaks on us hardworking people?!" He roared.

"Well, we're not just going to clothe him and feed him just like this! He's going to the orphanage, and those blasted freaks can deal with it! It's not our fault!" He shouted. Petunia hurriedly shushed him, as the neighbours might hear.

"Get in the car, boy! We're going to the orphanage!" She screeched. Harry wordlessly dragged the trunk out the door and put it into the car. Then, he sat in the car and stayed silent while a raging Vernon sat behind the wheel, occasionally about no good, lazy freaks pawning their burdens on poor unsuspecting hardworking people.

' _Sonoro,'_ Harry hissed quietly into his left sleeve.

' _Yes?'_ She answered.

' _Did you know that muggles had such tempers?'_ He asked. Sonoro shook her head.

' _Nope,'_ She hissed.

Suddenly, the car halted in front of a big, grey building with separate wings on both sides and a taller pointed building in the middle.

"Get out," Vernon grunted. Harry climbed out and got his trunk and walked into the building without a second glance. He looked around the room. There was a wooden desk in a corner with a woman sitting on a chair and numerous hard wooden chairs around the room. As Vernon registered him in, Harry took a seat on a chair and waited.

' _Well, Sonoro,'_ He hissed.

' _Yes?'_

 _'I have a feeling we will be in for one heck of an adventure,'_


	5. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4:**

 **Oh my goodness, guys! I am so sorry for the late update! I've been really busy so far. So sorry. I also apologize in advance for the awful quality of this chapter… Also, a lot of you are asking if this is Harry's second life. No, it is not. This is 'What would of happened if Harry's parents and twin brother the wrong boy who lived survived'. Enjoy!**

 _One month later…_

Harry sighed as he flopped down on his rickety bed. Honestly, that annoying muggle kid just _had_ to go and aggravate him, didn't he?

' _Sonoro?'_ He hissed once he made sure nobody could see or hear him.

' _Yes? What is it?'_ She hissed, peeking her head out of Harry's sleeve.

' _Well, I was wondering how we can get out of here. I mean, we can't stay here for forever, or at least until my Hogwarts letter comes,'_ He hissed back.

' _I don't have the faintest idea. However, you know in that book you were reading about rituals and whatnot about the wizarding world? Yeah. In one chapter, it said that magic calls out to magic. Perhaps you could use your wand to release magic and try see if anyone responds to come take a visit?'_ She asked.

' _I'll try, but I think it's just a bunch of nonsense, since if that happened, whenever anyone did magic around me, I couldn't sense it,'_ Harry said, unsure.

' _Maybe it's just underage wizards then,'_

Harry sighed.

' _Ok…'_ He hissed.

Harry peeked out the grimy window of his room that he had all to himself. The other kids claimed he was 'freaky'. They couldn't explain why, just that there was something weird about him. Like when it was raining, while all the other kids were shivering under heavy coats, Harry stood, unfazed and unaffected by the rain. And when they came back in, Harry was always dry.

There was only one kid who wasn't fearful of his magic. The one kid that would taunt him and bully him.

Arnold Bullchester.

Arnold was a bully who threw around his weight. Rather literally, at that. He would knock little kids off the swings, gang up on other older kids and when any person other than a teacher told him off or tried to placate him, Bullchester would beat them up with his gang.

Harry sighed. Honestly, Arnold was a real annoyance.

Harry knew that with one wave of his wand, he could ruin Arnold. With one little word, he could do things to Arnold beyond his wildest dreams. Heck, he could even _kill_ him.

So why didn't he?

Maybe he was too weakhearted and kind. But that wouldn't do. To survive, Harry would have to become cold, indifferent, hidden behind a mask of mystery and danger.

' _Sonoro? Do you want a snack?'_ He hissed at Sonoro. She bobbled her head and flicked her tongue out. Harry clambered off the rickety bed and the bed gave a loud squeak of protest. Glancing at it, Harry left the room and descended the old, narrow, worn wooden staircase down into the gardens.

Outside the big grey gloomy building, it was a bit better. The garden and yard was around the size of a football field with most of it as forest where kids played in. Dry grass covered the garden and a wall of trees ensured the kids couldn't get out of the orphanage. A small, old fashioned playground was tucked away in the corner. Everywhere else, trees were dotted around with the occasional flower and rock.

Glancing around, Harry wandered into the woods. Thick thongs of trees immediately blocked out the sunlight, making the forest seem more mysterious.

'I like it this way,' Harry thought as he weaved through trees until he came to a big rock the size of a Lynx. Sonoro hissed in delight and shot for the rock the moment Harry put her on the ground. She slithered up the rock and proceeded to sprawl across the top of the rock and sunbathe. Harry smiled and sat down on the hard dirt forest floor.

However, the two's peace and quiet was quite rudely interrupted as sounds of deep laughter echoed through the woods.

"Aww man, you should've seen his face!" Once voice laughed. Harry tensed and Sonoro lifted her head to check out what the commotion was.

' _Sonoro!'_ He gestured frantically at her. ' _Stay down! They can't see you!'_ Sonoro quickly ducked down, and not a moment too soon.

Five large boys burst into the clearing just as Sonoro's head went down. They were laughing and shoving each other. The largest boy who appeared to be the leader saw Harry who was sitting in the dirt and smirked, pointing him out to his gang, who all advanced on him.

"Well well well, if it isn't the freaky creep," Arnold Bullchester sneered as he stood in front of Harry. Harry stood up.

"Well well well, if it isn't the fatty. What are you doing here? Ganging up on poor, unsuspecting little kids where there aren't any adults? What's the matter? Big, bad boy too scared to go up against a poor, ickle freaky like me so he needs a gang?" Harry said coldly. Bullchester reddened with rage.

"You little freak! I'll show you!" He hissed and flew at Harry. His gang quickly lumbered after him.

Harry raised an eyebrow and calmly stood aside to let the mass of Bullchester pass him and into a tree. Bullchester hit the poor tree with a rather satisfying _crunch_ and slid to the ground. His gang all charged at Harry, fists flying.

And so, began the big brawl of the forest clearing. Harry dodged fists and feet and limbs and bodies left, right and centre. However, as Harry narrowly avoided a fist, he didn't see another boy advancing up behind him, and evil smirk on his face. The boy thrust out a fist and it flew towards the back of Harry's head.

Closer…closer…closer, until…

"AHHHHHHH!" The boy screamed and stumbled backwards as Sonoro leapt out of seemingly nowhere and onto the ground in front of him. Harry whipped his head around.

' _Sonoro! What in the name of Merlin are you doing?'_ He hissed, alarmed. All the other boys had retreated at least a good two meters from Harry in fear as they saw Sonoro.

' _I'm saving your skin, that's what,'_ She retorted and snarled at the boy in front of him, who just about wet himself.

Sonoro slowly advanced on the boy, who continued backing away, whimpering in fear. She rose and was preparing to strike when…

Wham!

Apparently Arnold Bullchester had recovered enough for him to have shakily stood up, lumbered over to the fight scene and lunged at Sonoro last minute. He managed to catch her tail. Now that things were going his way, his every-present cocky grin reappeared.

"Well, Freak, I didn't know you had a little snake as a pet. Then again, why am I surprised? This is just so like you, Freak," He sneered at Sonoro, who was hissing and flailing around to no avail since her tail was caught.

' _Bloody humans. Don't they know that it's not nice to grip a snake by the tail? I'm going to have a sore tail for weeks!'_ She complained as she glared at Arnold.

' _Sonoro? You're trapped and you're worried about tail cramps? Oh, never mind. What are we going to do?'_ Harry shook his head and sighed. The other boys except for Arnold had backed up by now and were staring at Harry with looks of disbelief on their faces that Harry could talk to snakes. Only Arnold remained unruffled.

"Wow, you really do get more and more freaky everyday!" Arnold remarked. "In fact, let me help you get rid of some of the freakishness. We can start by… squashing it out of you and your snake. Boys, lets give the Freak a hand!" He yelled at his gang, who now advanced again on Harry threateningly, smirking.

Harry was trapped. He knew it. There was no way he could escape Arnolds gang, immobilise them somehow, knock down Arnold and rescue Sonoro without either him or Sonoro getting hurt. The despair started to overwhelm him as the first boy took a swing at him. He ducked.

"Better give up now, Freak!" Arnold yelled. "Or I'll squash your snake!"

Harry dodged a kick and remained silent, but his mind was whirling. Sonoro was in a helpless state, and despite the fact that she was one of the most poisonous wizarding snakes, she was rather small in size. Heck, she could efficiently hide in the sleeve of a small, under-fed seven year old. Harry was certain that if he wanted to, Arnold could kill Sonoro. She wouldn't have enough time to bite him if he suddenly dropped her and raised his boot.

"I'm giving you three seconds, Freak!" Arnold yelled in glee.

"Three…Two…One!" He dropped Sonoro on the floor.

Harry froze and abruptly changed directions and dove at Sonoro.

He was too late.

Arnold's boot was already halfway onto her.

She tried to slither out, but she wouldn't make it in time.

"Sonoro!" Harry screamed as the boot was about to make contact.

A humongous shockwave of energy rippled throughout the clearing. It threw Arnold and his gang back quite a few meters where they hit the trees, reeling in shock and staring at Harry and Sonoro, who weren't blasted back.

Harry was blinking at the fact that, no, Sonoro wasn't dead and he wasn't being beaten up by Arnold's gang. Then, understanding dawned on his face.

' _Sonoro!'_ He hissed happily. ' _You're alive!'_

 _'Aside from the fact that I have a sore tail, yes, I am'_ She grumbled. Harry picked her up and she crawled into his sleeve again. Harry turned to Arnold and opened his mouth, but was cut off by the loud pop behind him. He whirled around to see what it was, but felt something cold and hard pressing into his neck.

It was a wand.

"Well well well," A female voice cackle. "What do we have here? A few baby muggles messing around and playing snake tamer? Salazar Slytherin would be so ashamed that filthy muggles are doing something reserved for only the best and pure of blood!"

Harry's blood turned cold. He knew this voice. It was the same voice as the death eater in Diagon Alley who had yelled that the dark lord's rebirth.

"Now, you will tell me, like the good worthless piece of muggle filth you are, where I am and if there is someone with extraordinary powers beyond your wildest wishes around here, or else the consequences will be…unpleasant," The same voice crooned.

"I assume you are talking about a witch or wizard?" Harry asked coolly. He thought that having a level head would help with dealing with this witch.

The voice let out a high pitched cackle.

"Oh, so you're a little blood traitor who turned on their noble and pure families who decided to cast them out to let them live like the muggles they are? Panthetic. Which poor family was unlucky enough to have housed, fed and looked after you only for you to turn and betray them?" She sneered.

"Well, on the contrary, my parents, if you could call them that, were part of the light, who feared I was going dark and was going to hurt my whale of a brother, so they cast me out to live with, as you put them, filthy muggles," Harry spat. His family was still a sore spot with him, and he loathed them with all his heart.

"Oh, poor baby! Tell me, why should I believe you?" The voice taunted. Harry sighed.

"If you take your wand away from my neck, perhaps we can go and discuss this? After all, how is one little unarmed seven year old a threat to an, as I'm sure, fully-fledged death eater?" Harry asked. The witch slowly removed her wand, and Harry turned around and found himself staring into the face of Bellatrix Lestrange.


	6. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5:**

 **On to the chapter! BTW sorry some ppl might be a bit OOC…**

 _Twenty minutes ago…_

Bellatrix Lestrange, recently busted out of Azkaban, was prowling down a muggle street. She was in an even fouler mood than usual, given the two muggles that had complemented her on her 'Halloween costume', even though it wasn't Halloween. She fumed in anger at the fact that she could not _Crucio_ them and teach them a lesson. Halloween costume indeed…

But no. Her lord had commanded that she remained low-key and avoided drawing attention and aurors to her as she was on an important mission.

Her lord had assigned her to go to an orphanage in muggle London. He had told her to burn it. Burn it to the ground and kill everyone in it. She found it rather peculiar that the Dark Lord would target a poor and rather run down muggle orphanage…Though she wasn't about to question the dark lord. Neverless, now she wished she hadn't been picked for this assignment.

"Filthy muggles, daring to mock our fashions, yet they dress like street beggers with their ragged, horrible, _dening_ pants and with the amount of clothing they wear, they might as well not be. They deserve to burn in hell. They aren't even worthy to lick our boots," She muttered as she stormed down the street, shooting the muggles nasty glares.

 _Yet another ten minutes later…_

Bellatrix walked aimlessly around where the dark lord said the orphanage was. She muttered and grumbled as she stomped around in a foul mood.

'Where could it be?' She thought furiously.

After yet another ten minutes, she decided to give up. Sure, she could ask around, but she would never lower herself to talk to a _muggle_.

With a sigh, she prepared to apparate out. However, just as she was holding out her wand, she felt a large magical pulse coming from nearby.

So much magic…so much magic…so much magic…

It was coming from somewhere close. She could feel it. It could of only been created by someone of great power, such as her Dark Lord, or that muggle loving crackpot old coot Dumbledore.

She apparated out and landed into the orphanage forest.

 _Present time…_

"Well?" Bellatrix demanded impatiently, her wand pointing at his face.

"Err, it's a long story," Harry took a deep breath.

"So, about one month ago, I was at Diagon Alley with my _loving_ family for me and my birthday, when you guys attacked. My _loving and caring_ mother instantly grabbed my twin and portkeyed back to the manor, while my father rushed out. Note how nobody even thought about me. Curious, I went outside and watched you guys announce the Dark Lords return. Later, I flooed back home while you guys and Dumbledore and the order of the fried chicken duelled. The next day after I got back to the manor, my _family_ and that muggle loving idiot decided that I was turning dark and sent me to my _muggle_ relatives to protect their _'_ golden savior; The-boy-who-lived-to-inhale-inhumane-amounts-of-food-and-annoy-the-entire-population', which I, quite frankly, am happy to be away from. Then, the _muggles_ sent me here, and one month later, here I am, talking to you,"

After Harry finished, Bellatrix narrowed her eyes at Harry. Finally she spoke.

"So you're the ickle jealous witty bitty forgotton twin of the boy-who-lived?" She said in a baby voice. Harry snorted.

"Quite frankly, it's the opposite. I'm sooo glad to be rid of those egomaniac, brainless and arrogant Gryffindors who think the universe should bow down to them,"

Bellatrix contemplated the situation. She was sent by the Dark Lord to burn a muggle orphanage, she met the twin of the vanquisher of her master, and here he was telling her that he was dark. Now, she could either kill the boy, burn the orphanage and never think about this again, or…

Her musings were cut off by the sounds of hissing. She turned to look for the source and found that it was the boy, hissing into his sleeve.

'What the?' Bellatrix thought, but then realization dawned on her face.

The boy was a parselmouth.

There was no doubt what she had to do now.

"Come with me if you want to get out of this dump," Bellatrix sneered around her. Harry looked up, surprised.

She walked out of the forest clearing with a reluctant Harry trailing after her at her heels. The boys were still in shock and looked after them as they walked out, Bellatrix with a sneer and Harry with his face to his sleeve.

Bellatrix strolled up to the main building and swished her wand through the air smoothly.

"Incendio,"

Bellatrix then walked away from the building and to a flat piece of land.

"Ahh…music to my ears…" She sighed happily as the panicked screams started. Harry privately agreed. After all, these people had tormented him and made his life difficult for the past month.

Bellatrix grabbed his arm.

"Hold on tight," She warned. Harry barely had time to nod before she raised her wand and they dissapparated with a loud pop, the burning orphanage the only clue they had been there.

 **Sorry for the really long time I didn't update, guys! Next time, Harry meets the Dark Lord!**


	7. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

 **Thank you all for your patience. A lot of you have been asking if this is a Harry-time-travel fic, and no, it's not. It's an alternate universe. Apologies for any misunderstandings. Also, some of you are asking why Remus Lupin would abandon Harry with the Whales-Sorry, Dursleys, after that argument. I feel that Remus would be loyal to Dumbledore the most since it was Dumbledore who let him into Hogwarts into the first place, so he feels forever indebted to Dumbledore. If you don't like this, then don't read this. Thank you.**

The Dark lord reclined on his black marble throne and today's _daily prophet_. The headlines that screamed out at him read 'Aurors and The order of the Phoenix foil the Dark lord's evil plans again!' When Voldemort had seen this at first, he had snorted so loudly, the junior Death eater who brought him the newspaper nearly jumped out of his skin.

Underneath the headlines was a humongous photo of Dumbledore, The order of the fried chicken and the aurors all gathered together and beaming at the camera. Dumb-as-a-door stood front and centre, smiling and twinkling like the bloody sun itself. Honestly, those fools acted like they had defeated his elite themselves, not some new fresh recruits.

He had sent them to St Ottery Catchpole for a simple raid. Somehow, the light had gotten wind of this and were there to counter-attack. Which meant he either had a traitor amongst his ranks or the aurors and the whole Order of the Phoenix as well as Dumbledore had all flocked to that Blood-traitor Weasleys house. Hmm, the first was probably the most likely. He'll have to investigate later. Out of the fifteen death eaters he had sent, only nine had gotten away unscathed. One stunned and the other disarmed. Four were captured. They had managed to finally break the anti-apparation wards around them and get away, taking down two aurors and wounding three of the Order.

He was brought out of his musings by a knock on his door.

"Enter," The door opened to admit Bellatrix.

"My lord," She murmured.

"Rise," She got up and the Dark lord waved his wand and conjured up a comfortable chair opposite his throne. She sat in the chair.

Whenever it wasn't an official death eater meeting, the Dark lord was less their lord and more of their…boss that they were close acquaintances with. Well, except for that rat, Pettigrew, who would turn traitor on his side the second the other side was winning, also known as the cruciatus practice target.

"So, Bella, how did the mission go?" He asked her.

"Very well. Were the aurors alerted?"

"No, my lord. Not even those muggle _poilecmen_ were notified. The filthy muggles will most likely pass it off as a…gas? Yes, gas leak or something of the like," She paused at numerous muggle words to think of them.

"Very well. I must apologize for lack of entertainment on this quest, but I did not want more aurors and that idiotic order on our tails again,"

"Of course, my lord," She nodded. "I understand. My lord, at the orphanage, I discovered a child who was…different. He was a wizard, but his parents who are also wizards abandoned him there," Lord Voldemort hissed in anger.

"How dare they! Abandoning a wizard child with filthy muggles! Who were his parents?" He asked Bellatrix who hesitated before answering.

"They are supporters of the light, my lord. In fact, you have met the child yourself and even attempted to kill him," The Dark lord frowned.

"Who-" He began but then realisation dawned on his face. "Harry Potter," He breathed. Bellatrix nodded. "How did he end up in a muggle orphanage?"

So, Bellatrix ended up telling the Dark lord everything Harry had told her. When she was finished, the Dark lord mused in silence. Finally, he spoke up.

"Where is the boy now?" He asked.

"He is at the entrance of the east wing, waiting with Barty," Here, the Dark lord raised an eyebrow.

"You saw fit to let a person who you barely know of into headquarters? Bellatrix, you're losing your touch," He admonished her, who grimaced.

"As I said, my lord," She told him. "There is something about the boy. Apparently he hates the light and muggles," The Dark lord nodded.

"Go find him and bring him to me,"

 _At the entrance of the east wing…_

Harry sighed and scanned the marble hallways of the east wing for any form of entertainment or escape from Bartemius Crouch's incessant chatter.

He yawned discreetly behind his hand. Honestly, who knew elite death eaters loved Quiddich so much? Well then again, Barty, as he had asked him to call him because Bartemius Crouch was his father, was only 21. He had joined the death eaters straight out of Hogwarts and quickly risen to become one of the best.

He was saved from 'death by Quiddich', or maybe condemned to a very slightly less painful fate (because nothing could be more agonizing than 'death by Quiddich'), by Bellatrix's appearance at the entrance of the east wing.

" Barty," She scolded playfully. "You're not trying to kill our special guest before he meets the Dark lord, now are you?" He shook his head sheepishly, trying to hide the smile on this face by looking down.

"Well, it's not my fault that you guys are so old and unappreciative of the finesse of Quiddich," He joked. Bellatrix shot a stinging hex at him. He yelped and glared at Bellatrix, who put on an innocent face that wouldn't off fooled a blind man.

"Jeez," He muttered, rubbing his arm. "Violent," Bellatrix snorted.

"Anyways, we have to go now. The Dark lord is waiting," She beckoned to Harry who followed her reluctantly while she started making her way down the east wing corridor. Barty yelled something indistinctive after them.

"What?" Bellatrix yelled back.

"I said," Barty hollered. "How long are you going to be? I'm bored out of my mind and it's quiet, so we won't be getting missions anytime soon!"

"Go read or duel with Lucius or go play your wonderful Quiddich or something! The Dark lord won't be happy if he's kept waiting!" Barty gulped and raced off in the opposite direction.

Bellatrix and Harry walked down the long hallway for what seemed to be eons to Harry before they finally came to a pair of dark double doors made of wood. Bellatrix raised a fist and knocked.

"Enter," A voice said from inside. Harry took a deep breath and felt Sonoro, who had fallen asleep from Barty's Quiddich talk wake up.

' _What's going on?'_ She hissed drowsily to Harry, who bent down to respond.

' _Were at the Dark lord's throne room and we're about to go in'_ He hissed quietly. Sonoro perked up at this and slithered forwards on Harry's arm so she could just see the outside world.

' _Ooh, Ebony. Stylish'_ She admired the double doors. Harry ignored her and walked into the Dark lord's throne room.

The throne room was around the size of the Potter's formal dining room, which is to say, big. It was constructed out dark grey marble with six white marble pillars supporting the tall ceiling. On the left wall in the bottom middle there was a thick white pipe that went into the wall. A Large black throne sat at the back of the hall, with a wooden table in front of it that had the _daily Prophet_ on it. Voldemort was sitting on his throne and watching them come forwards.

Bellatrix bowed in front of the throne and quickly nudged Harry to do the same.

"My lord, I have brought the boy," She murmured. Voldemort nodded.

"Leave us. I must have a conversation with him," Bellatrix nodded and after left the room.

Voldemort observed Harry in silence. Harry stared back at him.

"Harry Potter," He mused finally.

"Please do not relate me to that family of fools, sir," Harry told him, rather irritated. Voldemort observed him.

"So, tell me then, boy, why don't you agree with your family's views and ideas?"

Harry sighed. "I believe that their beliefs are tosh. They want everybody to be 'light' and follow Dumbledore blindly ad continue to stroke his ego. It's stupid. They used to shun, ignore and look down on me simply because I was the twin of the boy-who-lived-to-be-the-singular-most-spoilt-human-on-earth. Honestly, it was rather annoying. They will mistreat anybody who does not fit into their 'perfect light society' picture. It's sickening. What's wrong with dark magic? They can be used for good too. Besides, somebody needs to knock Dumbledore off his throne made of lemon drops," He ranted to Voldemort, who nodded thoughtfully.

"It sounds like you would like you agree with my beliefs too. In fact, I thought exactly what you thought when I was at school," Harry nodded.

"Yes sir, that is correct,"

"Very well, let me call Nagini over. If she deems you worthy, you may join me. However, if you don't, your life will become horrible very rapidly," When Sonoro heard this, she trembled in excitement. They would get to meet Nagini, the legendary snake that all snakes dreamt of meeting!

Harry sensed this and bent down curiously.

' _What are you doing'_

 _'_ _We get to meet Nagini! I'm so excited!'_ She hissed.

Voldemort stared at him.

"You're a parselmouth," He observed. "I met one other than myself. Curious, how curious," He said. "It would be a shame to kill you if Nagini doesn't deem you fit to pass,"

Voldemort got off his throne and stood in front of it. He closed his eyes and let out a series of hisses. He opened his eyes.

"Nagini is on her way,"

Voldemort got back onto his throne and observed Harry, who tried not to fidget. A whooshing sound made them both turn towards the wide white pipe. A few moments later, a mass of black and green scales slid out of the pipe.

' _Did you really have to get me? I was napping. So, where is this boy?'_ The snake grumbled. Lord Voldemort snorted.

' _You nap too much'_ He hissed back. Nagini gave him the snake equivalent of an evil eye.

' _And you,'_ She sounded positively gleeful to Harry. ' _Are going to let me sleep on your throne for that, or else I'll stop eating all the rats in the West wing where everybody sleeps'_ Voldemort paled at this. Who would of thunk that the Dark lord would be afraid of anything? Harry just assumed there were a lot of rats in the West wing.

Voldemort glared at his snake. If snakes could look innocent, this one was failing. Big time.

' _Nagini, you may not sleep on my throne. I'll compromise something with you later. I called you here to determine if this boy is worthy or not,'_

Nagini slithered towards Harry and eyed him curiously.

' _Hmm, this one is interesting. I can sense that he has been close to another reptile sometime recent,'_ Nagini slithered closer to Harry, who stood still, not wanting to risk death-by-huge-snake.

"She will not bite, at least not until I command her to," Lord Voldemort said in amusement. "She just wants to determine your loyalties,"

Nagini continued to circle Harry. Harry suddenly remembered something he had read long ago in 'Animal speech and customs'.

Harry cleared his throat. ' _Greetings, wise scales'_ He hissed to Nagini. Nagini stopped circling him and staring at him, which made him afraid he had said the wrong thing.

Nagini turned to Voldemort.

' _I like this one. Yep, he's worthy,'_ She hissed. Lord Voldemort raised an eyebrow but nodded.

"Nagini has deemed you worthy. Be grateful that she has. Now, you said that given a chance, you would join me. Here is your chance," Voldemort stepped off his throne and stood in front of Harry. Nagini slithered to his side.

Voldemort stuck his hand out at Harry.

Harry stared at the outstretched hand and weighed his chances. Either he could refuse and go back to his family if he got out of here alive, or he could accept and fulfil his wishes and get revenge. Harry thought for a moment before taking the hand. Somewhere, a prophecy shattered into a million pieces.


	8. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

Levina Monkstanley sighed as she approached the door to the department of mysteries. Honestly, she hated taking the night shift. She swapped shifts with the person who worked during the day and walked into the hall of prophecies to patrol and check the prophecies in case anybody sneaked I and stole a prophecy.

"41, prophecy about the Egyptian and his dog, made by Cassandra Trewalney,1415," She read off her notebook in a monotone. "42, prophecy of Grindlewald and Dumbledore, made by Valdimur Lebaski, 43, prophecy of Voldemort and Harry-" She stopped and looked up from her notebook. There was a noticeable empty space on the wooden shelf. Levina frowned. She sighed.

"I hate it when the other unspeakables move the prophecies around…Makes my job so much harder…" She grumbled as she checked all the prophecies on the nearby shelves. "No, no, no, no! Where could it be?" She yelled in frustration. The prophecy wasn't anywhere! She stormed down the aisles, searching for the prophecy. Suddenly, her foot hit something slippery and fell onto the ground with a loud crash. "Ow,"

She picked herself up off the floor with a wince, holding her cheek which had been cut by what she slipped on. "Episky," She murmured. The slippery thing she had tripped on covered the floor around her. It appeared to be sharp and jagged, with a glass like texture. She frowned and carefully picked them up with the specially designed prophecy tongs that allowed people who were not subjects of the prophecy to do so.

As she examined the slippery thing, she came to the conclusion that it was the shattered piece of a prophecy. This wasn't a very rare occurrence since little and unimportant prophecies often shattered if not fulfilled or had no chance of ever happening again. You could always tell when the prophecies were from and often see the titles in the little shards.

The prophecy appeared to quite recently made compared to some of the positively ancient ones. Perhaps 6-7 years ago?

"The prophecy of the-boy-who-lived and the Dark cord Voldeshort? Wait, that's an L…Oh ok I get it now! The prophecy of the-boy-who-lived and the Dark lord Voldemort!" She exclaimed in surprise at her conclusion. "Wait, so if this prophecy is shattered, then, either Voldemort (Shudder) has been vanquished, or, Merlin pray this has not happened, Callistus Potter is dead!" Her eyes widened in horror as she sprinted towards the hall of prophecies towards the head of the Department of Mysteries.

 _One week later…_

Harry was lying on his bed with Sonoro curled up lazily next to him studying _Borderline dark curses useful and legal in our society today_ which he had purchased at Knockturn three days ago when Nagini suddenly jumped onto his bed. All sixty pounds of her. Harry yelped and fumbled with his book as he struggled not to fall off his bed in surprise. As he flailed around, his hand accidentally hit Sonoro, who slowly flicked an eye open.

' _What's the big deal?'_ She grumbled sleepily.

' _Oops, sorry,'_ Harry hissed back sheepishly as he regained his balance. ' _Just an overweight snake that tried to give me a premature heart attack,'_ Here, he shot Nagini a glare. Nagini glared back at him.

' _I'll ignore that, for now. The Dark lord wants you in the dining room. He says apparently it's not good for you to miss breakfast usually, but today he needs to tell you something,'_ She hissed, peeved off. And with one final glare, she slithered out his room.

Harry got off his green and black four poster bed and stretched, looking around his green and glue striped bedroom. He had a wooden table with a cushioned wooden chair in one corner, with a door on his left leading to his bathroom and a door on his right leading to his wardrobe. Majestic, elegant bookshelves holding books from thick, old, leather bound books to thin notebooks written by masters and various skilled people in all areas of magic. A giant floor length tinted window was directly behind his bed that let the sun in.

Going out the sneering portrait of Martel the malevolent, with Sonoro resting on his forearm, Harry strolled down the hallway and marvelled at the grand and majestic decorations that adorned the large manor that he had barely started exploring. He turned left and entered the dining room with a large, elegant table with ornate, intricately carved chairs. At the head of the table sat Lord Voldemort, an extravagant breakfast laid out in front of him. However, his attention was not turned to his _Croissant aux abricots_ and scrambled eggs _,_ but rather the _Daily Prophet,_ which he was reading with a frown.

"Good morning, sir," Voldemort looked up.

"Good morning," Voldemort greeted curtly. "Come, sit," After Harry was seated, Voldemort held out the _Daily Prophet._ "Take a look at this," Harry took it with a confused expression on his face and started reading.

 **The dark lord is dead!**

 _Last night, in the hall of prophecies, unspeakable Levina Monkstanley was taking her night shift, ready for another typical night in the hall of prophecies counting prophecies when she stumbled upon the shattered prophecy. At first, Monkstanley thought it was just another unimportant prophecy from the middle ages when she saw the name of the prophecy; the prophecy of the boy-who-lived and the dark lord Voldemort. Now, when prophecies shatter, it means that it has no way of ever becoming real. Our unspeakables raced towards the Potter's house and found Callistus Potter sitting at his dinner table and eating, very much alive. This can only mean one thing; The dark lord has finally died and won't be back to ever terrorise us!_

 _For more information on the department of mysteries, go to page 7_

 _For more information on Callistus Potter, go to page 16_

Harry finished reading this and snorted. Then, he started laughing. It wasn't a little chuckle, but a full out, maniacal, stomach clutching laugh. Finally, he composed himself and turned to Voldemort, who was staring at him in amusement.

"I take it you find this as an excellent source of entertainment too," He smirked. Harry snorted

"Understatement of the century. Rita Skeeter never fails to amuse me,"

"Yes, that woman has a certain gift to twist words around and exaggerate to ruin your life. People would think she's a Slytherin, however you would be surprised she was a Ravenclaw. However, since the Callistus Potter is still, regretfully, alive, this means that he is indeed not the boy-who-lived. You are," Voldemort explained. Harry nodded calmly.

"I had thought so. So, what does this mean? Do they think you are dead?"

"Yes, it does. What however got me thinking was that the reported time the prophecy shattered was around the time you took my hand last week. This means that you are destined to join me, and I would like to join me not as a member of my troops but rather a member of my family. I would wish to blood adopt you," Here, Harry's mouth fell open in shock. Voldemort waved his hand at him in distate.

"Close your mouth before you catch flies. Now, are you willing to do this?"

Harry couldn't believe his luck. "Of course, sir. I would never decline to something like this. When can we perform it?"

"I was considering tonight. As for names, I was thinking Hadrian for you if you agree and perhaps Gjeze for a last name, so if you or I are ever tried under veritaserum, we can technically say our last name is Gjese while since it isn't a lie. Gjese is Albanian for Riddle," He smirked. Harry laughed.

"Yes, I do like the name Hadrian. Much better than a name as common Harry. And with Gjese, Old man whiskers won't ever suspect it's us. He probably thinks I'm being worked like a house elf at my magic-hating relatives house,"

"We can do the ritual tonight then. I shall call Severus to go get us a blood adoption potion. For now, you need to eat. No future son of mine should look so starved," It was that moment that Bellatrix Lestrange chose to walk into the dining hall.

"Greetings my lord, Harry. Did I hear that somebody was getting blood adopted?" She inquired curiously. Lord Voldemort sighed.

"Yes Bellatrix, I have decided to adopt Harry here," One could never keep secrets from Bellatrix. She would press and press until you were a tiny ball of pressure. Or she could bring out the red ants again. Lucius Malfoy found out the hard way when he refused to tell Bellatrix that Narcissa was pregnant.

"So, you'll need Snape? If you need somebody to call him, I'm here," She offered immediately without a second thought, being the devoted follower she was.

"It's alright, Bellatrix. We won't need Severus. I have the potion in my private stores. We shall use it tonight,"

Harry had a troubled expression on his face.

"Sir," He said nervously. "Back when I was still at Potter manor about half a year ago, one day Dumbledore flooed over with Snape to discuss things with the Potters. They didn't bother putting up silencing charms as Callistus was at his best buddy, Ronald Weasley's for the day. However, they forgot I was there and I was able to eavesdrop,"

 _Half a year ago, Potter manor…_

 _Harry sighed as he shut the standard book of spells grade 4 and got up to stretch. He looked around his little attic room and decided to go for a stroll around the woods next to Potter manor. It was a cold, crisp cloudless Winter's morning. Harry shivered in his woollen jumper that he found in the attic as he made his way around the hallways and stopped outside the shut door of the dining room when he heard voices._

" _Albus, I don't think that Callistus should start his training yet. He's still too young! He needs to enjoy his childhood while it lasts!" The voice of Lily Potter argued. Harry almost snorted. Yep, his twin was definitely enjoying his childhood filled with sugar, food, Quiddich, bullying other kids that weren't the Weasleys, Quiddich, getting his ego inflated and Quiddich. Did he mention Quiddich?_

" _Lily, the dark magic from his scar is going to affect him negatively. The sooner Callistus can learn to combat it, the harder it is to affect him when he gets older," The voice of Dumbledore tried to assure Lily. Then, the troubled sounding voice of James Potter spoke up._

" _Albus, you said that the dark magic will affect him when he grows up. Do you believe that_ _ **he**_ _will be back?" Harry heard Dumbledore sigh._

" _James, Lily, the fact is that, yes, I do. Therefore, I have brought dear Severus here today with me, who so kindly agreed to come with me," Harry could almost_ _ **hear**_ _the sneer on Snape's face. He had a feeling that Snape wanted to be here today as much as he wanted to be the temporary head of Gryffindor for a month, which was to say he didn't._

" _What does Snivellus have to do with this?" James Potter asked with disgust when he said Snivellus._

" _The feeling is mutual, Potter. I want to be here as much as you want me to be here," Snape bit back icily._

" _Now now, gentlemen, let's not argue. We are all on the same side, after all," Dumbledore tried to placate them both._

" _Albus, how can you say that?! The man's a death eater! The tattoo on his arm is all the proof you need!" James argued._

" _James, Severus here has my full support. He came to me and swore an unbreakable vowel to the light in his seventh year. He has been spying for us for the past twenty-one years now," James harrumphed._

" _Fine, but don't ask me to suddenly become his best friend just because he isn't the dark bastard we always thought he was,"_

" _I can assure you, Potter, that I wouldn't want to become your friend if my life depended on it," Snape hissed at James. James glared at Snape with hate in his eyes. However, Lily spoke up before a fight could erupt between the two men._

" _Albus, why is Severus here today?"_

" _Severus, could you please show them your mark?" The sound of cloth being moved followed before two small gasps sounded, most likely from the Potters._

" _Yes, as you can see, Lily and James, it has become much lighter now as Voldemort's power is in decline. However, he is not completely dead. Therefore Callistus needs training. When Voldemort comes back, he will be ready," Dumbledore said. Lily sighed._

" _Ok then, Albus. He can train every day for one hour," She said grudgingly. She didn't want her baby to have to start training at such a young age._

" _Excellent. If I come every day at 12:00 pm until 1:00 pm, would that be alright with you?" Harry could see the twinkle in Dumbledore's eyes. After a moment of silence, he spoke up again. "Good. I shall see you tomorrow, Lily, James. I must be taking my leave now. Severus," Harry heard the scraping of chairs against the floor as presumably Dumbledore and Snape stood up to leave. Here, Harry quickly bolted out the hallway, out the manor back door and crouched down behind the stairs leading up to the manor as the door creaked open again to reveal the head of Severus Snape, who glanced around with a frown before the head of Albus Dumbledore joined him._

" _Nothing here, headmaster. Must have been the wind," He sneered._

" _Hmm, I'm not sure, Severus. I must have heard something," Dumbledore then proceeded to walk down the back-door stairs, much to Harry's horror, and looked around the backyard and the trees of the forest._

' _ **Please don't look at me, please don't look at me'**_ _Harry prayed as he tried to make himself smaller. He held his breath as Dumbledore's eyes thankfully slid over Harry. He let out the breath slowly in relief._

" _I told you, headmaster, it was the wind," Dumbledore hmmed thoughtfully._

" _Possibly…lets just hope, my boy, that it was not a death eater spy," Snape snorted at this, and the two men left to floo back to Hogwarts. (Because the Potter's were such a light family that Dumbledore managed to connect the Potter's floo to Hogwarts for solely 'educational' purposes)_

 _Harry sighed in relief._

" _That was close," And Harry picked himself off the ground to go enjoy his walk which was what caused all this trouble in the first place. However, he had a lot more on his mind now before when he had left his room._

 _Half a year later, Riddle manor…_

When Harry finished his story, he glanced at Voldemort, expecting him to be angry or enraged. Instead, he was quite startled to see Voldemort sitting there thoughtfully. He was pondering something silently.

"Alas, so Severus's love for that mudblood was too strong. What a pity," He said finally. He sounded much too calm for somebody who was just betrayed by one of his most 'devoited' followers. Bellatrix, however, was a different story.

"That bastard," She hissed. "I'll kill him," And she proceeded to storm out the door, presumably towards the floo. The doors slammed before she could get out, however.

"Sit down, Bellatrix. I shall deal with him yourself, although if you want to take a go at him, you are most welcome," He waved his hand at Bellatrix, who reluctantly sat back down.

"Now, it would be a real pity to waste Severus's abilities as a potion master. I do not like to waste things without purpose. Bellatrix, it turns out that indeed, we shall need your services," Bellatrix jumped forwards and offered her arm to the dark lord.

While Voldemort was busy calling his followers, something Voldemort had said earlier had sparked a memory of Harry's.

"Sir," He said cautiously. He was treading in dangerous waters. "When you said the thing about Lily Potter, it brought back the memory of when you attempted to kill me and Callistus," The dark lord had now finished calling Snape and turned to look at Harry curiously. "I remembered that you hit the ceiling above us with the _Reducto_ and a piece of Rubble hit Callistus on the cheek, giving him the infamous scar. You tried to kill me with the Avada Kedavra," He told Voldemort. Bellatrix, who was resting on a nearby chair, looked up at him as well in shock.

"Yes, my apologies for that. I was going through quite an unstable stage at that point and it must have addled my mind. So, this is the proof that you are the real boy who lived," The dark lord grimaced sheepishly. "Also, Barty used some special ingredients and spells that somehow let me regain my sanity. Hmm, speaking of Barty, Bellatrix once you have recovered enough, could you please call Barty here to receive the news. I'm sure he shall be ecstatic that he will have somebody else to talk Quiddich to. Hadrian, sit down and eat. You're much too skinny," As if reading his mind, a plate stacked full of Bacon, Eggs, French toast and fruit. Harry sighed and started trying to make a difference on the virtual mountain of food.

 _14 hours later, Riddle Manor, The bedroom of Hadrian..._

"Honestly sir, in all due respect, I don't see _why_ we need to do the ritual in my bedroom," Harry complained as he sat on his bed, Sonoro curled up on her rock.

' _Because, the Dark lord said that you will most likely faint dead away and stay unconscious for at least 12 hours. Would you rather do that on the cold dungeon floor?'_ Sonoro hissed. Harry sighed.

"Beaten by my snake. How depressing," Harry mock sighed. Voldemort just smirked at him.

"Get use to it. Nagini has been owning it over me ever since she found the mice infestation in the manor. Careful, Hadrian. Sonoro shall have something over you next," Here, Sonoro glared at Voldemort.

"Right, well we should start," He pulled out a glass vial with a steaming black liquid inside it. Harry caught a whiff of it and gagged.

"Ugh," He gasped. "Smells like burnt rubber. Is that the blood adoption potion?"

"No, it's a random potion that I brewed to make you disgusted. Of course it's the blood adoption potion. Now, all we need to do is add 3 drops of my blood," Voldemort also pulled out a knife from the many folds of his robes. Harry stared in amazement.

"How can you keep so many items in your robes?"

"Magic," That was the short answer he got in response. Harry snorted.

After three drops of blood were added and palms were healed, Harry took the potion, which was now blood red. He shuddered in revulsion.

"Well," He said, sounding grim. "Bottoms up," And he proceeded to down the potion.

He waited. Waited some more. And then, the changes began.

Pain hit his body in wave after wave. It felt like his skin was being stretched and his muscles were expanding. He could feel his hair retracting into his scalp and a most horrible burning sensation behind his eyes. The last thing he saw was Voldemort leaning over him and readjusting him on his bed to make sure he wouldn't fall off before his vision faded black and he sank into unconsciousness.


	9. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

 **Hello everybody, I apologize in advance if this chapter seems extremely OOC. You have been warned. Enjoy!**

Harry (I'm going to call him Harry unless he's being addressed) groaned as he woke up. There were aches and pains everywhere in body.

' _Good morning,'_ Sonoro hissed from her rock. ' _How do you feel?'_

' _Like I've been run over by a herd of Hippogriff who then threw me onto a road of razor blades where I got run over by a monster truck,'_ He grumbled. He got off his bed only to nearly face plant onto the cold hard wooden floor.

He managed to stumble into the bathroom, glanced into the mirror, and let out a yelp at the sight of the strange face that stared back at him.

His messy, unruly black rug had now turned into a more tameable, slick dark brown hair. His face was more defined, more aristocratical. However, his green eyes were still green. He was also several quite a few centimetres taller. He also realised with a start that he no longer needed his glasses.

After learning again how to walk sufficiently enough that he could make his way to the dining hall without his new nose having a very intimate experience with the cold marble floor, he picked up Sonoro and went into the dining hall, with Lord Voldemort sitting at the head of the table, reading the _daily prophet_ again. It struck him how similar he looked to the dark lord now. They both shared the same hair and a similar face.

"Good morning, Hadrian. I trust you have gotten acquainted with you new self. Come, take a seat and eat," He frowned at the _prophet._

Harry loaded his plate with delicious looking food and had started eating when the dining room door banged open and Barty appeared, out of breath.

"Good morning, my lord. Good morning…Hadrian?" He asked. Harry nodded.

"In the flesh,"

"Same to you, Barty. Come, sit, eat," Barty sat down and started eating.

"So, Hadrian, how does it feel to be blood adopted?" Barty inquired curiously. Harry groaned.

"It feels like you've been run over my numerous heavy objects repeatedly. Pro tip: Don't get blood adopted anytime soon again," Barty grimaced.

"Hadrian, Barty, you might want to see this," Voldemort finally spoke up and handed them the _prophet._

 **The Potters speak out!**

 **By Evelyn Addley**

 _Callistus Potter, destined saviour of the wizarding world, has somehow managed to vanquish you-know-who for once and for all! Callistus, seven years old, can now enjoy the rest of his childhood and have a normal life, hopefully without any more dark lords in it! Yesterday, we interviewed the Potters on their feelings on this. They were ecstatic that the wizarding world is now safe and that Callistus can grow up without the burden of having to kill a dark lord. 'We want Callistus to have a good childhood and life, not one filled with pain and grief' The Potter's had said. 'That night when Callistus was almost murdered by him, his V scar was radiating dark magic. We are so grateful that it has faded now' The Potters have donated $10,000 to the Auror Department to ensure that we will never have anything else like this again, or if this does, we shall have the recourses and people to combat them._

 _For more information on the Potter's interview, go to page 17_

 _For more information on the Auror Department, go to page 8_

Harry snorted.

"Enjoying his childhood? That miniature Elephant, Oops, sorry, The-Boy-Who-Lived, hasn't just been enjoying his childhood, he's been napping and dropping chocolate frog wrappers on it," Barty just shook his head.

"And they call us insane…" He muttered.

"Yes, it is rather horrible. Now, eat. We shall discuss your education afterwards,"

 _10 minutes and 3 full stomachs later…_

"Now," Lord Voldemort said after the plates and cutlery had disappeared. "You shall need to be educated in the magical arts and theory before you begin your 'official' schooling. I understand that the Potters had a very contented library and that you have a certain passion for knowledge. How far along are you in Hogwarts years for every subject?"

Harry frowned.

"Hmm," He said. "I had just finished the 3rd year Transfiguration textbook before I was sent to the orphanage, I am about, let's say, 3rd year level for charms, I'd say I was on 3rd year level for potions and around. Did you know that Potter manor has excellent greenhouses that have a lot of interesting and exotic plants and are barely ever in use after the Boy-Who-Lived deemed Herbology 'girly'? For defence, I honestly don't know, though if I were to take a guess I would say 3rd year,"

Barty was pretty shocked, which was an understatement.

"Wow, you read a lot for a seven-year-old. How in the name of Merlin did you understand some of the harder words? Hell, I had trouble with those during my Hogwarts years," He said in amazement. Harry frowned.

"I didn't. Sometimes, I couldn't understand quite a few things, so I ended up skipping the chapters. Even if I had understood them, I could probably use a repetition of the 3rd year level as I did struggle a bit on it,"

"So, we can start your informal education at the beginning of third year level. Very well. You have already met Bellatrix and Barty, so I shall introduce you to the rest of my inner circle as my son and heir tomorrow at the meeting. We shall discuss tutors there tomorrow to see who is able and who isn't," Voldemort looked at Harry thoughtfully. "Hadrian, if you would like to, you may go and fly with Barty for the rest of today. Of course, I could teach you to fly unsupported, but no harm learning to fly a broom and get an extra ability," Barty's face lit up at the prospect of flying with somebody.

"Come on, Hadrian. The Quiddich pitch is at the back of the manor," Barty said excitedly, then dashed out the door.

"Thank you, my lord!" Barty's voice sounded from the hallways and got fainter.

Harry shook his head in disbelief.

"That man," Harry muttered. "Gone insane,"

Voldemort snorted.

"Best hurry after him, Hadrian, lest he gives you a grilling down with a lecture on the finesses of Quiddich," Harry paled and rushed out after Barty.

Voldemort sighed in relief. Ahh…peace and quiet finally.

Just then, the door opened, and Bellatrix stepped through.

"Good morning, my lord. There's a problem. Narcissa hexed Dear ol Lucy for having been here for the past three days without her knowing," Bellatrix sighed.

"What was the hex?"

"An overpowered stinging hex. Wouldn't have been so bad if she aimed it at a…particular part of his anatomy," Voldemort kept an emotional face when she said this, but he winced internally. Narcissa was rather infamous within the death eater ranks for her stinging hexes.

"I am assuming that Lucius needs medical attention?" Voldemort asked cooly.

"My lord, the problem is that, well, the main healer is off on a mission and won't be back until next week. Her apprentice also refuses to tend to Lucius. 'I refuse to touch that certain part of Mr Malfoy. He can heal himself, and besides, he deserves it' The problem is, my lord, Lucius has a meeting with our esteemed minister in three hours,"

"And can Lucius not heal himself?"

"He would be able to, my lord, if Narcissa had not snatched his wand and jammed it into that certain part of his anatomy as hard as she could. Rabastan tried to remove the wand but it seems to be stuck there by magic,"

Voldemort sighed and followed Bellatrix out of the dining hall.

' _Looks like peace and quiet has finally been disturbed,'_ He thought with a sigh.

 _15 minutes later, Riddle Manor entrance hall…_

"My lord, perhaps try the reducto curse?" Suggested Bellatrix as she examined Lucius's problem. Lucius's already pale face paled further.

"Bellatrix, we are trying to help Lucius, not harm him further," An exasperated Lord Voldemort said in a patronizing tone as he tried to summon Lucius's wand, only for the Death Eater to start yelling in pain.

"Bellatrix, your sister somehow managed to get Lucius's wand stuck in there. It also seems to only Narcissa is able to remove this," Bellatrix sighed.

"Are you sure that a banishing spell won't work?" She pouted.

"It would banish the certain part of his anatomy too. Go find Narcissa, Bellatrix, and bring her here. It won't do to have Lucius to be like this for who knows how long,"

A few minutes later, Bellatrix came back with a very irritated looking Narcissa Malfoy.

"Lucius," She asked sweetly. "You're not going to do anything without my permission now, are you?" Lucius grunted and bobbled his head yes. "Good. Now, let's see, _Paqertus Finite!"_

Lucius breathed a sigh of relief as his wand finally removed itself from the certain part of his anatomy. He tried to get up, only to double over in pain again.

"That stinging hex's effects should wear off in approximately half an hour," Narcissa said, before she turned on her heel and stalked down the corridor.

"Lucy, that was not very smart of you to upset Cissy, you know. My lord, do you still require my services?"

"No, Bellatrix. You may go now. Lucius, I agree with Narcissa. That was not a very prudent idea. Now, I suggest that you get ready for your meeting. It may be something important,"

Lucius groaned.

"Thank you, my lord," He croaked.

Voldemort nodded in acknowledgement and started making his way towards the Quiddich pitch to see what Barty was doing with his new song.

"Oh, and Lucius?" He called over his shoulder. "Make sure to steer clear of enraging Narcissa for the next few days. I have a feeling she wouldn't so easily remove what she does to you then," He heard Lucius's audible gulp as he resumed walking.

 _The next day, Riddle manor…_

Harry woke up to the face of a giant snake in front of him.

"Holy Merlin!" He yelled as he practically fell off his bed to get away from the snake. When he looked at the snake again, he could swear that is was grinning smugly.

' _Time to get up, Hadrian,'_ Nagini hissed. Harry grumbled.

' _Well that's a very interesting way to wake up. Thanks, Nagini,'_ He hissed sarcastically.

' _Anytime,'_

After Harry had gotten dressed and ready for the day, he looked back curiously at Nagini.

' _Where did Sonoro go?'_

' _Oh, she got a bit bored of your room, so she's gone to the gardens to go play with all the other snakes outside,'_

' _So that's where she went!'_

Lord Voldemort looked up from his paper at the dining hall door which had just banged open to admit Harry and Nagini.

After both Harry and Nagini had settled down, Harry at the table, Nagini at her rock, he spoke up.

"Today, we shall be starting your lessons, Hadrian. I hope you slept well. After breakfast, we shall introduce you to your teachers for the next few years until your 'formal education' at Hogwarts starts. Now, eat. Trust me, you will want to eat as much as possible today," When Harry heard this, he started piling food onto his plate.

As he ate, he turned to look at the paper Voldemort was reading. The front page was turned towards him, and he could make out the words 'Celestina Warbeck to perform in Diagon Alley today at 12pm!' along with a smaller headline underneath it that read 'Event in the ministry department of muggle-worthy excuses for the most absurd alibi's'

"There is nothing that is of major importance today," Voldemort said from behind his paper as he took a bite of his, jolting Harry out of his thoughts. He nodded, sheepishly.

 _2 minutes later, throne room…_

Voldemort was sitting on his throne, with Nagini beside him and Harry standing in the shadows of the room. Bellatrix Lestrange, Lucius Malfoy, Barty Crouch and Rabastan Lestrange were all already gathered in front of the dark lord.

"Lucius, your arm," He beckoned his death eater forth, who rolled up his left sleeve to reveal the tattoo of the skull and snake. Voldemort took out his wand.

"Before I summon Severus, I have to tell you all that from Hadrian's memories, I have discovered that his loyalties lie not to me, but rather that old fool Dumbledore," Bellatrix gasped.

"That traitor," She hissed furiously. "We trusted him with our secrets. I bet that's how our plans get foiled,"

"However," Voldemort continued. "We must not let him know that we know. He shall get his due when the time comes," The room erupted into loud exclamations of protest from the death eaters, who all wanted to deal with a traitor ASAP. "When Severus is present while we discuss our plans, those plans are automatically worthless. Tell everybody that Severus is a traitor, but also tell them not to let him on that we know. Also, tell them to stay after a planning session after Severus is gone so we can discuss our real plans," The death eaters all nodded, albeit rather unhappily. "Good, now that that has been out of the way," Voldemort took Bellatrix's marked arm and pressed his wand to it. Bellatrix pursed her lips but didn't say anything as they waited in silence.

A ping in the wards a few minutes later indicated that somebody had apparated onto manor grounds. A knock on the door told them that Severus had arrived.

"Come in, Severus," The door opened to admit a man dressed in black robes wearing a white mask. He walked up to the dark lord and kneeled.

"Master," He murmured. Voldemort waved his hand as an indication for Severus to rise.

"Severus, I have called you here today along with Bellatrix, Barty, Lucius and Rabastan to discuss an important matter. I trust you all will not divulge this matter. You may find some… _unpleasant_ situations coming your way if you do," Nagini hissed from her place next to the dark lord threateningly. Severus shivered in fright as he thought of the _unpleasant_ situations that the dark lord had mentioned.

"My lord, I would never share anything you wish me not to," Severus responded smoothly. The others all responded similar words.

"Good. Hadrian, come out now please," Severus snapped his gaze to a figure that stepped out of the shadows wearing a dark green robe with dark brown hair and piercing green eyes. Severus couldn't place it, but those green eyes were surprisingly familiar. They bore a startling resemblance to those of his best friend's. Well, she was his best friend, until he called her a mudblood in fifth year. The point was, the boy who resembled the dark lord had Lily Potter's eyes. He was jolted out of his thoughts when Voldemort spoke.

"You are all gathered here as you five are to be the future mentors for Hadrian, my son and heir. Who gave birth to him is irrelevant. Bellatrix, you shall tutor Hadrian in defence and the dark arts when he is older. Lucius, you shall teach him about etiquette, politics and how not to draw unwanted attention to himself. Barty, your speciality at school was transfiguration, which is what you shall be tutoring him in. Rabastan, I understand that you apprenticed in charms after graduation, so you will be teaching Hadrian that. And finally, Severus, you will be teaching Hadrian potions," All five death eaters nodded, and finally Hadrian spoke up.

"I look forwards to lessons with you all, and hope that I will learn much with you. My father trusts you all as some of his best death eaters, so therefore, I will too," He said. Voldemort had told him what to say for this meeting, otherwise Harry would have been stumped.

"Severus, stay behind. The rest of you are dismissed," Voldemort said.

The other death eaters all bowed and left the room in an orderly fashion.

Once the death eaters had left, Voldemort turned to Snape.

"Severus, as I am supposed to be dead, report to Dumbledore that death eaters can actually call each other through the mark in emergencies, such as their lord's death. Tell him that Lucius and Bellatrix had called you to discuss what will happen now," Snape nodded.

"Yes, my lord," He paused. "Should we also tell him that Lucius is planning to bribe the minister of magic?"

"No. Do not tell him anything about the plans, and if he asks, say that everybody is in a frantic and frenzied and so you could not plan much. Whatever you do, do not let him know about Hadrian," Voldemort said. Severus nodded.

"You are dismissed," Snape bowed deeply before retreating out of the door, still facing Voldemort but looking down.

"Oh, and Severus, I expect not a single word to be leaked to Dumbledore. You may find the consequences rather painful," Voldemort said casually.

"My lord, I assure you that Dumbledore will never catch wind of this," Snape said smoothly. Voldemort nodded, as if satisfied, and gestured for Snape to leave. As he opened the door to the throne room, he caught a quick glance of Hadrian's unnerving green eyes boring into his, as if penetrating into his soul. He shivered slightly and walked briskly down the hallway to get back to Hogwarts, nodding to fellow death eaters on the way out. Once out of the Riddle manor wards, Severus Snape was gone with the crack of apparition. He landed outside the Hogwarts wards and immediately broke into a full sprint, plotting the fastest way to get to Dumbledore and to tell him of what had just occurred.

 **Sorry for how long this took.**


	10. Chapter 9 (Again)

**Chapter 9**

 _Hogwarts, headmaster's office…_

Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore was contently sucking on a lemon drop in his office. The world was safe. The dark lord Voldemort had been vanquished, according to Severus, but what was disturbing was the fact that Voldemort had an heir. However, he wasn't too disturbed. Severus said that the heir was only The shattered prophesy was the proof that he was dead.

Albus Dumbledore was not happy with how many death eaters had managed to bribe their way out of suspicion of supporting Voldemort again with gold in the right hands. Personally, he thought those that were bribed were fools. They would continue to cause chaos in the world unless they were incarnated or locked up.

His thoughts strayed towards another person that could cause chaos. Harry Potter, the son of James and Lily Potter, and the twin of Callistus Potter. Poor Harry was jealous of Callistus's fame, and he could very possibly be a hazard to Callistus's health.

' _And his own'_ He added as an afterthought.

No, the solution was simple. Harry Potter had to go, for everybody's good. Staying at the Dursley's was not enough, what if the boy was vengeful when he came to Hogwarts? He could be out for Callistus's blood. No, that would not be good.

' _Harry Potter has to go. It's time I paid my old muggle born friend Dave Mason a visit. He still owes me after that time I covered for him during NEWTS when Abraxas Malfoy put self-correcting ink in his bag. I heard his son is now the owner of the company Vernon Dudley works at. And the Potter's will agree to fund this. After all, it's for the safety of their son's.'_

Albus Dumbledore nodded. Yes, that was what he was going to do. That was what had to happen. After all, it was for the greater good.

 _Potter manor, 10 minutes later…_

Lily Potter was baking cookies in the kitchen when she heard a knock on her door. Unfortunately, her hands were occupied with a tray of freshly baked cookies.

"James, could you get the door?" She yelled towards upstairs. A series of thudding steps on the stairs a few minutes later, James Potter appeared in the kitchen, his hair tousled from having just finished a Quiddich match with Callistus. He opened the manor's front door, knowing that the manor wards wouldn't let anybody that was not keyed in to get onto the Potter's residential. James was expecting it to be Frank Longbottom, or Arthur Weasley at the door, not Albus Dumbledore.

"Good afternoon, James. Could I come in?"

"Oh, hi Albus, sure, come in," He ushered Dumbledore into the living room, where Lily was placing the plate of cookies onto the table.

"Albus! What a pleasant surprise! What are you doing here? Lily said as she saw the two wizards enter the room. Dumbledore sat and waited for the Potter's to speak before speaking up.

"As you know, Voldemort is finally gone. That means that the prophecy was wrong, and that Callistus does not have to defeat Voldemort. However, as predicted, there are still the death eaters, but according to Severus, they're all in a state of frenzy and we can send the Auror's to capture them. I, however, am most worried about Callistus's twin,"

Lily frowned. "Harry? Why are you worried about Harry?"

"Think about it, Lily. Harry was raised with Callistus and then got sent away while Callistus got to stay. He must be feeling jealous and spiteful towards Callistus now. If he came here, he could be a hazard to us all," James nodded.

"Yes, he would be. What do you think we should do, Albus?"

"That is why I am here today," He turned to Lily. "Lily, your sisters husband works at a place called Grunnings, no?" Lily nodded. "Excellent. I happen to have an old friend whose son owns that company. If you agree, I know a lovely country on the other side of the world called Australia. My good friend is willing to open a new franchise of his company there and to make Vernon Dursley the manager there. Would you and James be willing to buy your sister and her family a house there?

"Of course! I mean, it's for both Petunia and Harry, and for Callistus's safety too, why not?"

"Excellent," Dumbledore rose. "Well, I shall contact you and James when I have all the details sorted with Gringotts. Unfortunately, I cannot stay around to chat. I need to go arrange things with Dave now. Could I possibly borrow your floo for a moment please?"

 _The Dursley household, Surrey, The next morning…_

Petunia Dursley was just putting breakfast which consisted of scrambled eggs, bacon, waffles, pancakes, sausages, toast, baked beans, mushrooms, hash browns, tomatoes, cereal, ham and orange juice on the table when her husband and son came lumbering in.

"Good morning, Pet," Vernon Dudley yawned and stretched. Petunia smiled.

"Good morning, Vernon. How did you sleep, Dudley?" Dudley mumbled something sleepily as he rubbed his eyes and dropped down into a chair at the table. Petunia couldn't be sure, but she could swear she felt the ground shake a little. Vernon ruffled his son's hair and sat down himself. Now Petunia was definitely sure the ground DID shake. And it wasn't just a little.

"Eat up, you two. Horace Callum just phoned and asked if you could make it to golf an hour earlier today. Vernon perked up.

"I'll go phone him back now. Pet, would you mind getting the mail?"

As Vernon went to phone and Dudley continued stuffing his face (He's a growing boy after all, Petunia thought), Petunia went to get their mail. The last thing she was expecting was a white envelope with the brown Grunnings stamp on the front sitting in their letterbox.

Petunia rushed inside hurriedly. "Vernon! Vernon! Come look at this!" She cried. Vernon put down the phone and came over to her.

"We got mail from Grunnings! Maybe you're getting a promotion!" He took the envelope and pulled out the letter.

 _Dear Mr Dursley,_

 _Over the last few years that you have been with us, we have noticed that you have been a prestigious and prime example of an employee. Grunnings has decided to expand, and we are planning to open a branch in Melbourne, Australia. We do need a manager for the Australian branch, and we have decided to pick you. You shall have 30 employee's working under you, and if you are able to become the new manager, we have arranged to get your family a new house by the beach with 6 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, a game room and a pool. This house, along with first class seats for your family, would be yours if you were to become manager. Please get back to us ASAP._

 _Mark Mason, CEO of Grunnings_

Vernon's jaw dropped in shock.

"Petunia, I knew it! I knew that I was an excellent employee! This letter is proof! Complete and solid proof! We've got to sell the house and get packed!" He went back to the phone. "Sorry Horace, I can't go to golf today. Got a house to sell and a luxury first class flight to get to!" With that, he slammed down the phone, and quickly punched in another set of numbers rapidly.

"Hello, this is Grunnings reception, you're speaking to Amanda, how can I help you?" A female voice came from the other end.

"Hello, Vernon Dudley here. I would like to speak to Mark Mason please,"

 _Riddle manor, the same time…_

Hadrian panted as he dodged yet another boiling hex from Bellatrix. Sure, he knew that training was going to be hard, but he didn't know that he would be running around like a lunatic, avoiding curses left right and centre from the insane witch.

"Protego!" He yelled and shielded against a cutting curse, then leaned to the right to move out of the way of a stunner.

Bellatrix cackled. "Come on Hadrian, my great grandmother Violetta Black can dodge better than you!" She taunted him as she shot another greyish green curse at Hadrian, who threw up a shield against it, but to his surprise, the curse passed through the shield. He grunted as the curse hit him in the abdomen, and his world started to spin and turn dark.

"Finite," Bellatrix muttered, and Hadrian gasped as everything turned the right way up and turned the right brightness.

"What curse was that? And why did it pass through my shield?" Hadrian asked curiously as he stood up.

"That was _nausterio_. I developed it myself, so it would pass through the average _protego_.Especially useful hex to use on prisoners who refuse to talk. There have only been 3 people before who haven't broken under _nausterio_ in under a week. We shall be practicing more advanced dark spells tomorrow," Hadrian nodded, and yelped as he cast tempus. "I'm late for Mr Malfoy's etiquette and politics class!" And he sprinted off down the hall.

 _Lucius Malfoy's etiquette and politics lessons…_

Hadrian skidded to a halt in front of the library. He pushed the door open and found Lucius Malfoy seated at a table, calmly sipping tea.

"Hadrian, you're late," The man said as he looked up.

"I'm sorry, Mr Malfoy, but Bellatrix hit me with a spell and I had to have time to recover," He apologized.

"My apologies, Mr Malfoy," Lucius corrected him. "Now, today we shall be learning about appropriate ballroom etiquette. That includes learning how to dance. I have invited a visitor over today to assist with your lesson. Come, let us go to the floo room to welcome her," He rose from his seat and strode gracefully to the library door, with Hadrian hurrying after him, struggling to keep up with his long strides.

 _Floo room, 5 minutes later…_

Lucius and Hadrian were sitting on the couches in the floo room when the floo turned green and a figure with long blond hair gracefully stepped out of the floo a few seconds later.

"Ah, Ms Greengrass, it's a pleasure you could join us today," Lucius said.

"Likewise, Mr Malfoy. I am very grateful to have been invited here today," The girl said coolly, ever calm and composed, even at the age of 7.

"Hadrian, this is Daphne Greengrass, daughter and heir of Roman and Ophelia Greengrass. Daphne, this is Hadrian Riddle," Daphne's eyes widened but she quickly re-arranged her features into a neutral one.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Hadrian," She nodded.

"The pleasure is all mine, Daphne," Hadrian said formally, recalling his etiquette lessons from Lucius, who had repeatedly drilled pure-blood courtesy into his head. Lucius nodded slightly approvingly.

"Ms Greengrass, I was just teaching Hadrian about proper ballroom etiquette. I would be contended if you would accept to being his partner for today,"

Daphne nodded. "Of course, Mr Malfoy,"

"Good. Then let us proceed to the ballroom,"

As the trio were walking along the manor's hallways, Hadrian sneaked a few glances at Daphne. Her face was stoic and held in a neutral expression as she kept her gaze ahead of her. Her eyes were a light, icy blue, which matched her exterior. Her hair was long and a white blond, falling down her back. She held herself gracefully and with poise, like somebody so much older than herself. Hadrian tried to imitate himself, keeping his back straight and his head up.

' _What are you doing?'_ Sonoro hissed from Hadrian's sleeve.

' _I'm trying to imitate them'_ He hissed back quietly.

' _Don't tilt your head so severely. It's more of an unconscious tilt. Also, don't puff your chest out so much. You look like a self-obsessed Peacock,'_ Hadrian tried what Sonoro was suggesting and found that it looked a lot more natural that way.

' _Thanks,'_

' _No biggie. Now please try not to trip over too much while learning how to dance. I wish to catch some more shut eye,'_ And with that, Sonoro retreated back into Hadrian's sleeve.

"Now, we shall first be learning the starting position. Ms Greengrass, would you mind demonstrating?" Daphne assumed the starting position. "As you can see, Hadrian, your feet are stilled and shoulder width apart and pointing towards your partner. Your arms are resting on your partners hip and you are to hold their right hand in with your left. Give it a try,"

Hadrian approached Daphne. "May I?"

"Of course,"

Hadrian assumed the starting position and put one hand on Daphne's hip and took her hand in his.

"Your feet are too close together," She said. Hadrian moved them. "Now their a bit too far apart. Stop. Yes, that's good," She nodded. Hadrian frowned.

"You already know how to do this?" He asked curiously.

"I learnt this when I was 5,"

"Ms Greengrass, would you care to start into a slow move please?"

"Of course, Mr Malfoy," She started to slowly move her feet and Hadrian tried to copy her movements. "No Hadrian, it's left first, not right," Lucius said as he watched the pair dance.

 _45 minutes later, Riddle manor living room…_

"Thank you again Ms Greengrass for coming along today and assisting Hadrian in his dancing skills. I understand that your parents are currently at the ministry in a meeting, no?" Daphne nodded. "Very well. You are most welcome to stay here at Riddle Manor until they feel free to collect you. I have already checked with Lord Riddle, and he is alright with it. He says that Hadrian needs some company near his own age,"

"That would be greatly appreciated, Mr Malfoy. I shall go floo my parents now to inform them," She said gratefully.

"No need, Ms Greengrass. I can do it. Hadrian, why don't you take Ms Greengrass to the kitchens to get some food or to the library to play chess?" Hadrian nodded.

"Follow me Daphne. We can get the house elves to serve us food in the library if you're hungry. I'll race you to the end of the hall," Daphne smiled.

"Challenge accepted,"

Daphne sprinted lightly to the end of the hallway, leaving Hadrian in the dust. He arrived a few seconds later, huffing and puffing.

"Come on, it's not that tiring. I'm in a dress here too," She smirked. Hadrian reddened slightly.

"Lets just go in," He muttered. Daphne laughed softly, and they went into the library, marking the beginnings of a long and strong friendship/alliance/acquaintance.

 **There you go people, sorry for taking so long to write this. About the part where Snape lies to Dumbledore, I feel that Snape wasn't really either Dumbledore's man fully or Voldemort's. He would do what he thought would benefit him the most, and in telling Dumbledore that Voldemort was dead, he thought that it would do himself the most good. Thanks for reading!**


	11. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10**

 _Riddle manor, the next day…_

Hadrian woke up with a slight smile on his face.

' _Good morning'_ He hissed excitedly to Sonoro. Sonoro slowly raised her head.

' _Morning'_ She grumbled back. Hadrian got out of bed and into the bathroom to get ready. He put on a pair of expensive black Egyptian cotton robes with Emerald trims. He went back into his bedroom and picked up Sonoro up from her warm rock that was bathed in sunlight and put her into his left sleeve. He picked his wand up from the small Ebony table next to his bed with intricately carved features and slipped it into the wand holster that he had found in the Riddle manor armoury. It had been sitting next to a long and narrow Blackthorn wand with a sign that read 'Morzan Gaunt'. He pat his dark brown hair into place and adjusted his robes before walking out Martel's portrait and to the dining hall.

"Good morning," Hadrian greeted as he enters the hall and sees Voldemort sitting at the table, reading the _Daily Prophet_ as usual.

"Good morning, Hadrian. Sit," Hadrian curiously looked over at the paper Voldemort was reading.

"Sir," He began.

"Call me father," Hadrian hesitated.

"Father," He started again. "I was wondering if there was anything interesting in the _Daily Prophet_ today that would be relevant to us," Voldemort nodded.

"As a matter of fact, today there is not much in the _Prophet_ that could be of applicability to our side of the war today," Voldemort smirked. "Unless, of course, the death eaters would find that a new store titled 'Death donuts' has just opened relevant," Hadrian snorted.

Just then, the door opened and Barty walked in.

"Good morning my lord. Good morning Hadrian. Did I hear donuts?" He yawned.

"Good morning, Barty, and yes, as a matter of fact, a rather unique store has recently been opened in Diagon Alley entitled 'Death donuts'. You with your addiction to candy may find this rather intriguing," Voldemort said.

Barty's eyes lit up with an insane gleam.

"My lord, if possible, could I stage my next mission in Diagon Alley?" He asked excitedly.

Hadrian snorted.

"No, Barty. Your next mission is in Al Jumahiriyah al Arabiyah al Libiyah ash Shabiyah al Ishtirakiyah al Uzma," At Barty's utterly baffled and horrified expression, Hadrian burst out laughing.

Voldemort sighed in amusement.

"Yes Barty, your next mission may be staged in Diagon Alley," Here, Barty sighed in relief.

"Thank you, my lord," He said gratefully. Then he turned to Hadrian. "Oh yes, Hadrian, don't forget you have transfiguration lessons with me in the main study at 11:00,"

Hadrian nodded as he took a bite out of his buttered French Baguette with Passionfruit jams that the house elves had served.

 _4 hours later, Riddle manor, main study…_

"Transfiguration is without doubt one of the most complex branches of magic to master, and even in transfiguration, there are different types. Today, you shall be beginning the simplest branch, transformation. For transformation, you must have the correct mindset and be determined to transform your subject to something else to fully be able to succeed. Of course, you could use incantations, but when in a duel, it would be the most straightforward to transfigure without them. For example, if you were to transfigure a wall into a mouse, you must first picture which part of the wall would be the tail, the head, the nose, the ears. Every single molecule and fibre of that wall would have to be completely reshaped and resized to become the mouse," Bartemius Crouch lectured as he paced the study. He really was a different person when it came to transfiguration. He became more serious then Hadrian had ever seen him before. He took a piece of parchment out from his pocket and pointed his wand at it.

"Now, watch closely. I shall be transfiguring this parchment into a pineapple," As Hadrian watched, right before his eyes, the piece of Parchment seemed to grow and turn yellow and green, forming spikes and leaves. Hadrian stared at the Pineapple which then shrunk and turned back into a piece of parchment.

"Now," Barty said as he put a quill in front of Hadrian. "You shall be turning this quill into a knife. Examine the quill and think about which parts of it can become which part of the knife. Which part would become the hilt? The blade? The tip? The edge?" Hadrian looked over at the quill and took a moment to decide which parts would be which.

"Once you have figured out which parts would transform, keep the image of what you want your object to transform into in your mind. Focus, and picture it. The wand movement is a down stroke then a point, as with all other transformations,"

Hadrian frowned. He pictured the quill as the knife, and did a downstroke, then quickly point his wand at the quill. Slowly, the tip of the quill started to turn pointy, and a sharp edge was formed. The lower half of the quill started to turn more blocked and wooden. Then, the rest of the quill turned the same shade of grey as a knife and its consistency also turned into that of a pocketknife.

Barty clapped. "Well done Hadrian. Very rarely are such satisfactory results received from first tries. You should be proud of yourself," He applauded.

Hadrian grinned. "Thank you, Barty,"

"Now that you have completed the transfiguration of the knife successfully, lets test how efficient this knife is. Zipsey!" He shouted, and a moment later, a loud crack resonated and a house elf wearing a uniform with the Slytherin crest on it.

"Mister Barty called Zipsey?" She spoke in a high-pitched voice.

"Fetch us a piece of meat please, Zipsey," He ordered. Zipsey nodded and disappeared with another loud crack.

Seconds later, Zipsey came back, this time carrying a wooden board with a piece of fresh beef on it.

"Here is the meat, mister Barty. Would mister Barty be needing anything else from Zipsey?" She asked.

"That is all, Zipsey. Just put the meat on the table here," Zipsey nodded and put the meat down, then she was gone with another loud crack. Hadrian winced slightly at the loud noise.

Barty snickered. "Don't worry, you get used to it after a while. Now, lets see how efficient your knife is. Take your knife and cut the piece of meat in half," He slid the board towards Hadrian, who picked up the knife and effortlessly passed it through the meat, cleanly cutting it in half. The dull noise of metal embedding itself in wood rang throughout the room.

"Good job, Hadrian. Do you have any questions about transformation for me?" Hadrian shook his head. Barty nodded.

"Alright, that's the end of the transfiguration lesson for today. You have approximately ten minutes before your charms lesson with Rabastan. It's in the storage room of inanimate objects,"

"Thank you, Barty. I shall be going now," Hadrian said as he picked up Sonoro, who had slithered out of his left sleeve and was now eating the piece of meat.

' _Hey!'_ She protested as he lifted him up and back into his sleeve. Barty smirked and waved his wand at the wooden board. It transformed into a wooden box complete with a lid. Another wave of his wand later and the box floated over into Hadrian's arms.

"Thank me later. Now, get going to charms class," He shooed Hadrian out, who fumbled with the brass door opener as he was trying to put Sonoro into the box.

Barty snickered once they were out of the study and tidied up the study with a few swishes and flicks of his wand, then left himself to go fly and try convincing Lucius to fly with him.

 _10 minutes later, the storage room of inanimate objects…_

"A broken picture frame, a silver dagger with interesting stains on it, a little golden vial with a cork made from the shrunken skull of a phoenix, a bottomless alligator skin pouch, a heavily enchanted Osmium thimble, and many many more magical objects can all be found in this room," Hadrian read. He shrugged and put the piece of parchment back down where he found it. Just then, a loud bang sounded from the door and a dishevelled looking Rabastan Lestrange with drunk-tank pink hair and his typical black robes now a mauve purple with multicolour splodges on them. His previously beige skin had somehow turned into a rather unflattering shade of atomic tangerine. Hadrian heard Sonoro snicker from inside his sleeve. Well, rather she produced a noise that was probably the closest a snake could get to snickering.

"Hello Hadrian," He said calmly, despite looking like he had just run through a muggle paintball game and then jumping into a pool of lurid food colouring. "My sincere apologies for my appearance. I am afraid my quest to find the true definition of 'colourless' failed, and my colour-draining charm rather the opposite and backfired," He took out his now lime-green Yew wand and waved it at himself. His robes, hair, skin and all other objects and articles of clothing regained their original colour. Rabastan grinned. "Much better,"

"Welcome to charms class, Hadrian. I assume you have already examined the many wonders inside this room. Although some items may look harmless, I can assure you, they are anything but. I strongly advise against touching anything that has stains or draws you into it with an alluring attraction if you wish to have all 4 limbs attached and your senses correct. Today, we shall be practicing the enlargement and reducing charms. These charms come in very han with clothing if you find that your dress robes are 2 sizes too small five hours before a Christmas ball," He grimaced, as if reminiscing an unpleasant memory. "Unfortunately, in my case, I had not yet learnt the enlarging spell and I ended up with wonky dress robes," He pointed his now normally coloured wand at an ornate snuff box with intricate gold decorations on it.

"Enlargo,"

At once, the snuff box began to grow until it no longer was the size of a book and more the size of a carrier bag. Rabastan unlocked the large snuff box and immediately threw up a blue shield that covered both him and Hadrian. He breathed a sigh of relief when nothing happened and waved his wand. The shield disappeared.

"Hadrian, you shall be reducing this snuff box to the size it was before. The incantation is Reducio, and the wand movement is an anticlockwise circle and a point," Rabastan indicated towards the snuff box. "Be careful and reduce slowly. If not, the snuff box could have one size become ten times smaller than you want it," He warned. Hadrian nodded in understanding.

"Reducio," The snuff box started to shrink at a gradual pace until Hadrian ended the spell when it was at somewhat it's starting size.

"Well done. Now, as circumstances may impose in a battle, that speed may not be favourable. You will not have the luxury of time on your side if you wish to use this charm in a fight. Now remember, this spell can be used on humans," He smirked. "Applied with a powerful _aguamenti,_ you won't even need lethal spells to kill. To reduce and enlarge faster without having them unproportioned, you need two elements. A good sense of balance and practice. Hence the reason most don't use re-sizing charms during battle. Many do not have the mental balance required for them and prefer spells that prove more lethal and less complex to execute. Now, if you want to properly do an engorgement or reducing charm, you must make sure that you focus on all aspects of the object equally. For example, if you were to enlarge a rat (Cough Pettigrew Cough) you must focus on his-I mean it's- fur, mouth, tail, ears. Not just the body or it's claws. Otherwise, you shall end up with a mutant rat that possesses an overly large body with tiny ears. Let us attempt with this snuff box again. Remember, spread your focus," Rabastan then mumbled something under his breath that sounded suspiciously like _maybe I'll bring the rat in on the lesson on animal knockback charms_. However, Hadrian couldn't be sure and went back to enlarging the snuff box with a shrug.

"Engorgio," He tried to focus on all of the snuff box and concentrated on balancing the focus as the snuff box got larger. The snuff box grew in size much quicker than it had before. However, one of the sides were slightly longer than the others. It wasn't too noticeable though. Hadrian pouted.

"Don't be so dejected. This is a considerably admirable result for a first try at the speed you enlarged at," Rabastan congratulated Hadrian, who still looked a bit unhappy. "Now, let's see if we can get the same outcome when we shrink it,"

Hadrian waved his wand around in an anti-clockwise circle and pointed it at the snuff box. The snuff box decreased in size until it was the original size. This time, the snuff box looked relatively normal.

"Well done, Hadrian. Make sure to practice these charms as they can come in extremely useful in combat situations. For homework, I would like you to write 7 inches of combinations and ways that resizing charms can be used in battle. This will be due in four days. I see you do not have any more lessons until after lunch. Go do whatever you want until lunchtime. That is your charms lesson for today. Don't forget to practice your resizing charms if you can. Now, I shall be heading off to the library to get a book on colour charms," Rabastan chuckled. "Good day, Hadrian," And with that, Rabastan walked out of the room, accidentally tripping on a bronze teapot in the process and making a loud crashing noise as several antique and exquisite objects knocked into each other. Rabastan dusted himself off sheepishly before disappearing down the hallway.

Hadrian snickered and left as well. He went back to his room, eager to start his homework. Sonoro was laughing still laughing at Rabastan by the time Hadrian gave the password to the portrait of Martel the Malevolent.

 _Potter manor, same time…_

Callistus Potter laughed in exhilaration as he swooped through the air on his Nimbus 1500, his father tailing him closely behind.

"Alright, now dive!" James called. He quickly pulled his broom to the right to avoid his son. Callistus pulled out of his dive and leaned into a sloth barrel roll followed by a rather wild loop. He wobbled a bit after he finished.

"Dad! Did you see that?!" He yelled excitedly. James chuckled.

"Wonderful! Just like your old dad, a complete natural on the broom!" He praised. Callistus smiled.

"But just don't tell your mother. You know she doesn't want you doing dangerous tricks on your broom quite yet," James warned as they were landing on the ground of their Quiddich pitch.

"Don't tell me what?" Lily's voice said from the back door of Potter mansion. Both father and son jumped, identical guilty expressions on their faces.

"Lily! I didn't see you there," James started nervously. Lily rolled her eyes and muttered something that sounded like _No duh._

"So, what was it that you weren't going to tell me, hmm?" James and Callistus shot each other panicked looks. Lily sighed.

"Never mind. I saw everything from the back door anyways. Callistus honey, that was a dangerous thing to do and you know it," At Callistus's crestfallen look, she added "I'm not saying that you shouldn't do these tricks, but I'm saying that just not right now. Those tricks are for flyers who are much more advanced in skill and know how to properly do these tricks. When you're more experience in flying, you can do now" She gave Callistus a hug. "Do you want to go inside? I made some Apple slice and it's on the living room table," Callistus perked up, and he immediately dashed through the door, making a beeline for food. James went to follow his son in too, hoping for some of Lily's infamous Apple slice (She had found the recipe in her mother's cookbooks) but was stopped.

"James, you know that Callistus shouldn't be doing dangerous things yet. I mean, he's still young and he still has so much to learn," Lily argued.

"I'm sorry Lily flower," Lily sighed.

"Okay then. Just, make sure not to let him do such dangerous things again until he's older," James nodded. "Oh yeah, Frank and Alice are coming over to dinner today. So, make sure you and Callistus save some room for later tonight," James's eyes lit up.

"Apple slice!" He yelled and ran into the house. Lily sighed with a smile.

"It's like raising two kids," She muttered happily as she went inside herself.

 _The house on the beach, Melbourne, a month later…_

Vernon Dursley was contently sipping a beer while sitting on his front porch which overlooked the beautiful beach, contemplating how well his life was. Things had taken a turn for the better ever since that white envelope with the brown stamp had arrived in his letterbox a month ago. He had gotten all their furniture sold, their belongings packed, and their house sold to a couple with a young child.

His pride and ego figured that he had received the promotion because he was such a hard-working and diligent employee who was standing out in the eyes of his bosses who decided to promote him because of it.

Just at that moment, Petunia came out in a flowery dress with Dudley who was busy chomping down a cookie.

"Vernon, I'm taking Dudley to Martin's, and then I'm popping around to Mrs Larks next door. I'll be back around time for dinner, but there's some lasagne in the fridge if you get hungry," Vernon grunted.

"Don't forget to pick up more beer. John from work is coming over after dinner to discuss work purposes,"

"Of courses. I'll do that after I drop off Dudley," She kissed Vernon on the cheek before going back into the house and out of the door.

Vernon sighed happily. Life was good. As he looked over at the beach at all the people who were laughing and having fun, never did the thought that his current life was going so well because of his 'freaky' sister in law and her husband, along with that 'Thumbles' man. No, the fact that he was admiring the stunning Melbourne beach on the front porch of his house because of Magicals never crossed his mind.

 **And bam, that's Chapter 10! I hope you all enjoyed. My apologies for updating this story at the pace of a snail in slow motion…Also, I don't know the first thing about the theories of Transfiguration, anything about the Hogwarts Third Year curriculum, engorgement charms, Quiddich or the amount of homework in inches. I was completely winging this chapter because I typically update at school and my school bans Harry Potter wiki for some obscure reason. So, my apologies if everything is completely screwed up. Thanks for reading!**


	12. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11**

Hadrian was brought into the world of wakefulness when a heavy object landed on him. His eyes snapped open instantly, alert, as he attempted to scramble into a sitting position. Key word: Attempted. He failed miserably. He heard a cross between a hiss and a laugh.

' _Good morning Hadrian! I trust you slept fitfully!'_ Nagini hissed cheerfully from her place draped over Hadrian's torso and bed.

' _I was sleeping very well up until you decided to crash into me with the force of a brick wall and squash the living daylights out of me'_ Hadrian grumbled as he tried to get up again. He gave up, and instead tried to push Nagini off him. Nagini snickered at his exceedingly lousy attempts and reluctantly slithered off him to the corner of his bed, grumbling that he was comfortable. All her complaining woke up Sonoro, who lazily opened one eye and stared at them before closing her eye again and going back to sleep. However, Hadrian could swear that he heard Sonoro mutter something about juicy pigeons…

' _Your father wants to talk to you after your potions lesson'_ Nagini hissed. She slithered back onto Hadrian, much to his protests.

' _Get off me,'_

' _No'_

' _But I need to get ready for the day!'_

' _Ugh, fine'_ Nagini rolled her eyes, which was a rather comical sight for a sixty-pound, twelve-foot snake. She slithered off Hadrian and off his bed, and she turned towards Sonoro.

' _Snakeling, if you would like to, I'm going hunting for some of the wild rabbits and mice that live in the forest near here. It's probably better than suffering through potions lessons with him'_ Here, Nagini jerked her head towards Hadrian. ' _You won't believe the things that potion fumes do to your scales after some time'_ She shuddered. ' _I'll be at the entrance hall after breakfast if you want to join me'_ And with that, she slithered out Hadrian's room. Sonoro continued to snooze fitfully as Hadrian washed up and got dressed for the day. He put on a pair of Charmeuse black robes with fine dark blue lining. After a moments consideration, he realised that they may not be the most practical for Potions class and instead got changed into some simple black cotton robes. He nodded in satisfaction.

' _Sonoro'_ He hissed. Said snake stirred slightly, but otherwise didn't react.

' _Sonoro'_ He hissed again louder. Sonoro just coiled herself in tighter.

' _SONORO!'_ He yelled in Parseltongue. This time, she finally lifted her head up to glare at Hadrian.

' _What? Can't you see I'm trying to get my beauty sleep here?'_ She hissed in irritation.

' _Are you going to come eat breakfast with us or are you just going to continue sleeping?!'_

' _I think I'll get up'_ She opened her mouth to reveal her fangs as she yawned and slithered over lethargically to Hadrian, who picked her up and put her around his left forearm.

They reached the dining hall, and Hadrian opened the door to find that the spot where his father usually sat, the head of the table, was empty. However, Nagini was found slowly devouring what suspiciously looked like a frog in a corner, if the green leg hanging out of her mouth was anything to judge by. Hadrian's attention swivelled over to the figure with long hair who was sitting down the dining table, eating a small square piece of hash brown delicately.

"Good morning, Hadrian. If you are looking for your father, I am afraid that he is currently occupied in a meeting with the inner circle. In the meantime, why don't you take a seat and have some of this lovely French toast?" The figure said softly. It sounded like a female. She offered Hadrian a plate of assorted breakfasts.

"Good morning and thank you for informing me. Umm, may I ask who you are?" Hadrian asked tentatively.

The figure laughed airily. Hadrian was now sure it was a woman.

"My name is Narcissa Malfoy. You may know my husband, Lucius, whom is currently in a meeting with our lord. Now, do try some of this splendid Blueberry Souffle in the meantime. Your father should be out of the meeting soon," She smiled as Hadrian hesitantly took a tiny bite of the offered Souffle, then instantly devoured the rest of it.

 _The meeting, throne room, same time…_

"So, do inform me, Severus, pray tell, what plans have Albus Dumbledore made as to my supposed death?" Voldemort said in a calm, yet deadly tone. Snape mentally tightened his Occlumeny shields as he tried to supress the urge to shudder as he thought what would happen to him if either Dumbledore or Voldemort found out his true loyalties.

"My lord, Albus Dumbledore has not made any plans other than party plans for the celebration of your 'demise'," Snape said smoothly. It was true, there were wild parties within the order and the so called 'light' to celebrate Voldemort's 'death'.

"So the old codger does not suspect anything. Excellent," Here, he looked thoughtful. "Tell Dumbledore that you were again called by Bellatrix to plan, and that little three-year-old Hadrian is staying with her. Tell him that remaining death eaters want to stop looking for me, but the inner circle are reluctant to do so,"

"Yes, my lord,"

"You are dismissed. Report back to Dumbledore and be back 11 am for Hadrian's potions lesson,"

As Snape got up, bowed, and retreated out the door, the blood red eyes of Voldemort's 'Dark lord' form followed him. A small flick of his custom-made wand made from a wand-crafter in the Russian Alps, and a gray jet of light came out of his Blackthorn and Thestral hair wand, entering Snape's back. Snape appeared not to have even noticed that he just had a listening charm placed on him, and continued his way out, his mind racing as to find ways to outsmart both leaders of opposite sides.

 _Meanwhile, Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizardry, headmaster's office twenty minutes later…_

Albus Dumbledore was enjoying a nice breakfast of sausages and hash when he heard the sharp rapping on his door.

"Please enter," He said happily.

However, his happy face turned to a slightly surprised and shocked face as he saw that it was Severus who was standing at the door, in his death eater robes.

"Severus, to what do I owe this pleasure?"

"Headmaster, I was just called to a meeting by Bellatrix Lestrange,"

"And what happened at the meeting?"

Snape sat down in the squishy bright purple arm chair opposite the headmaster.

"All the inner circle was there. The majority of the death eaters wanted to stay low and call off the search. Only the Lestrange's and Crouch want to continue the search," Snape lied smoothly.

Dumbledore nodded. "And what about Voldemort's heir?"

"Hadrian was being looked after by the Lestranges. However, I am sure that the Lestrange's are not well acquitted to look after infants, and they were in a state of panic because Hadrian was dead. I figure that he was most likely disintegrated by one of the dark traps that reside inside Lestrange manor," He sneered. He however was not aware that Voldemort was currently sitting in his throne room, with the majority of the inner circle gathered around him as he.

Bellatrix hissed in anger. "Lestrange manor has no traps in it that could be harmful to young children after Amabel Lestrange had her spine twisted and then snapped in two by one and died when she was five," Voldemort held up her hand and she fell silent. They kept listening.

Back at Hogwarts, Dumbledore was rather happy to hear this. The death eaters all seemed reluctant to try bring back the dark lord, and his heir was dead. Yes, it was rather sad that he was just a child, but he was the child of a dark lord and a danger to the wizarding. Yes, it was all for the greater good.

"Severus, I shall floo call the Potter's to arrange a meeting up with them later today. Would you care to accompany me?"

Snape knew that this was not a request, but rather an order. He nodded in irritation, knowing he had no choice in the matter.

 _Potter manor, twenty minutes later…_

James Potter pushed open the door quietly with a Gryffindor banner on it, and stepped in. Callistus was lightly snoring in his four-poster bed. James slowly walked over to the bedside table which was crowded with tiny sleeping Quiddich players on mini broomsticks, lions with red manes that were curled up, numerous stacks of Chocolate frog cards and candy packaging. And there were a lot of those, considering how many midnight (More like 9:00-Oh-my-stomach-woke-me-up-because-I-did-not-eat-enough-Liquorish-wands PM) Snacks, wake up snacks, pre-bedtime snacks, and oh, we cannot forget his occasional post-Quiddich-nap snacks. It really was a mini miracle the boy-who-lived-to-flatten-dark-lords did not have type 2 Diabetes. James smiled as he looked at Callistus's sleeping form, his curly Auburn hair the only thing visible. He was happy. He couldn't have asked for a better family.

"Time to wake up, Callistus! Time to wake up! Lily's making her chocolate marshmallow pancakes for breakfast, and you're going to the Weasley's house soon and Albus and Snivellus are coming over!" Callistus stirred slightly but didn't wake up.

"Hmm, well I guess there's nobody else to help me find a good place to hex Snivellus. What a shame," James sighed. "I supposed I'll just have to go prank him myself,"

At the mention of 'pranks', Callistus instantly jolted awake.

"Pranks?" He asked excitedly, alert.

James laughed. "Yes son, we're going to prank Snape. You of course will help, as an honorary mini-marauder!"

 _Riddle manor, dining hall same time…_

After the meeting had concluded and the inner circle were dismissed to whatever they were doing previously, which in most death eaters' cases was finishing breakfast and in Barty's case, studying Quidditch strategies, Voldemort changed from his 'dark lord form' to what he usually looked like, which was what 30-year-old Tom Riddle looked like, except his eyes, which would have been hazel, were still blood red. That was the only indication of the dark transformations he had undertaken years ago. He found Hadrian in the dining hall, conversing with Narcissa, and Lucius sitting down the table with a pained expression on his face. Everybody's heads turned towards him as he entered.

"Hadrian, Narcissa, I trust you find you have found your morning very pleasant," He nodded to Lucius, who inclined his head slightly in acknowledgment.

"Good morning, father. Narcissa was just telling me about the time that she hexed Lucius in fifth year," Hadrian laughed. Lucius grimaced.

"Good morning, my lord," Narcissa murmured.

Voldemort waved his hand. "No need to be so formal outside of meetings. You may call me Tom," The Malfoy's exchanged slightly shocked expressions. "Now, Narcissa, please continue on with your intriguing recounts," He smirked at Lucius's expression of defeat.

"With pleasure, Tom!" Narcissa's smirk matched the dark lords as she launched into the tales of the humiliation of her aristocratical, regal husband. Said aristocratical and regal husband groaned and dropped his head into his hands.

 _Back at Potter manor, half an hour later…_

After the Potter's had finished their breakfast, and James and Callistus had finished plotting their plan, the floo suddenly turned green and a moment later, Albus Dumbledore stepped out of the floo, dusting soot off his Royal Purple and golden robes. The floo flared green again and Severus Snape followed Dumbledore through, his posture stiff and cold, a disgusted sneer on his face.

"Hello Lily, James, how are you two doing? And how has Callistus been since his last lesson?" Dumbledore's eyes twinkled.

"Hello Albus! We're doing just fine! And Callistus is making good progress with the spells you told him to practice!" Lily smiled. Just then, both Callistus and James burst into the room, snickering about something.

"Oh hi, Albus!" James panted as he and Callistus sat down on the sofas opposite their visitors. Snape was looking around the room in distasteful boredom.

"Severus, would you care to recount your version of the morning, please?"

As Snape retold his altered version of the events that had happened earlier that morning, James tried to inconspicuously signal to Callistus. He got the message and gave his father a thumbs up.

"The majority of the inner circle are reluctant to search for their master. However, the most devoted and eccentric death eaters disagr-" Snape's silky drawl was abruptly cut off by an intense coughing fit from Callistus.

"Callistus, honey, are you alright?" Lily immediately rushed to her 'sick' son's side, her expression one of immense concern. Callistus saw out of his peripheral vision, his father rise from the couch slowly and make his way behind Snape's chair as he continued to 'cough up a lung'. Dumbledore was now at his side too while Snape sneered at him in disgust.

Callistus gave one last cough for effect before theatrically collapsing back onto the couch. Lily continued to fuss over him while his James slowly lifted his wand and whispered an incantation.

"Rictusempra,"

The results were immediate; Snape tensed up as his face contorted and his hands flew to his sides. His eyes seemed to pop out as he opened his mouth and let out a short bark of laughter. Then, he started to laugh long, hysterical laughter. However, his eyes remained dark and murderous, radiating pure hatred. If looks could kill (Which in a Basilisks case, they can) Snape would be a mass serial killer. Dumbledore even had the audacity to _smile_ at him with that infuriating twinkle in his eye! The two male Potter's were rolling around the floor, laughing without the use of the tickling spell. James was beside himself in glee, seeing his lifetime old archnemesis getting humiliated. Snape eventually managed to fumble out his wand and cast the counter-curse. He took looked James Potter in the eye, whose face was now paper white with fear, and raised his wand.

Quiddich training had greatly boosted James Potter's athletic ability, dodging bludgers trying to break your skull did that, but nothing could have prepared him for an enraged Severus Snape that was out for his head and his blood. Preferably with his blood spewing from his head. Lily and Dumbledore both cringed downstairs when they heard the yell of pain that came from upstairs. Callistus's face turned red in anger as he rushed after 'Snivellus Snape'. Lily ran after her son. She didn't want both her husband and her precious son to get cremated in the same day. Dumbledore sighed as he reluctantly trailed after her. Really, he was getting too old for this.

 _ **(Poor old Dumbles. Perhaps he needs to cut down on the kippers and lemon drops…)**_

An hour after the incident at Potter manor, a smugly grinning Severus Snape stepped out of the Riddle manor floo. Minor death eaters scampered out of the path of the scarily cheerful man who was headed towards the breweries. As he made his way down the hallways, he happened to cross paths with Lord Voldemort.

"My lord, I am here to attend to Hadrian's potions lesson,"

"Very well. Rise, Severus. Hadrian shall be down there in half an hour," He continued to walk down the hallway. Snape got back onto his feet. He wasn't sure if either all the adrenaline from Potter manor was affecting him or not, but he thought he'd seen a steely glint of cold calculation and a hint of malice in Voldemort's blood red eyes. He entered the brewery and sighed in envy as he eyed all the exotic potions ingredients that lined the shelves. That place was a potions masters dream come true. It was a shame that it all belonged to a madman like Voldemort, Snape mused as he began to set up.

About half an hour later, Hadrian entered. He would be lying if he wasn't rather weirded out by the odd things he saw. He sat down and took out his wand.

"There shall be no need for your wand, Hadrian," A silky voice said. Snape stepped through the doorway and stood in front of Hadrian.

"Welcome to Potions class. As you may already know, my name is Severus Snape. I am aware of the fact that you possess the knowledge of how to brew particular potions, however lack the experience of doing so. Today, you shall start by brewing the sleeping draught," He waved his wand and instructions appeared on the board. "You may begin,"

As Hadrian went to collect ingredients, Snape watched him. The dark lord had not told them who his mother was, yet he seemed rather attached to Hadrian. Perhaps the daughter of a dark pureblood family? Or was Hadrian the son of an inner circle death eater who had died serving Voldemort? His musings were cut short when Hadrian came back, carrying numerous ingredients in his arms.

As Hadrian brewed, carefully checking the instructions on the board, Snape told him that when he was at Hogwarts, the method would be different. "Knut pinchers," He sneered. As they waited 70 minutes for the potion to brew, Snape told him how to enhance or alter certain qualities of the potion.

"To make the time the drinker is asleep longer by half an hour, heat for 45 seconds instead of 30," 

"If you were to make the drink the same shade as Blackcurrent juice, add an extra blob of flobberworm mucus," 

"Never put in 3 Sprigs of Lavendar instead of 4 if you do not want your face blown off,"

After Snape had finished giving his tips and Hadrian had finished writing them down, they had moved on to discuss the different properties and effects of certain ingredients and the foundations of potion brewing. After the 70 minutes were up and Hadrian finished the potion, he bottled it up. It was the correct shade of purple.

"Your homework for the next time I see you is to write half a foot on the different ways the sleeping draught can be used,"

"Thank you, sir,"

"You are dismissed,"

Hadrian made his way out the brewery and to the dining hall. He saw his father was already siting at the table, waiting for him.

"Come sit, Hadrian,"

As the house elves served lunch and they started to eat, his father spoke up.

"The Malfoy's have planned for a dinner at their manor for all death eaters and their children. I have accepted their invitation for both of us," Hadrian nodded.

"When is the dinner?"

"Tomorrow night," Hadrian nodded. He was rather excited that he would get to meet some children about his own age. He did have Barty to fly with him, but Barty, how do you say, a bit too…eccentric. Also, for a seven-year-old, he was a bit too old.

Hadrian stood up from the table when he had finished his lunch.

"Father, may I leave?" Voldemort nodded.

"Very well,"

Hadrian walked out the dining hall and to the library. He sighed. Well, he thought, he better get started on his homework. Then, perhaps he could take a look at that rather interesting book on dark curses he'd seen when he entered.

 **Well hope you enjoyed!**


	13. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12**

 **So, I was recently informed by a reader of this story that Snakes can only close their retinas and they can't actually close their eyes…oops.**

"Expelliarmus!"

Bellatrix effortlessly blocked the spell, letting it be absorbed by the blue shield, before retaliating with a bludgeoning curse. Hadrian ducked under it and fired off a knockback jinx, which she sidestepped.

"Wingardium Leviosa, Confundo, Stupefy"

Hadrian wasn't quite expecting the notorious dark which Bellatrix Lestrange to use such a…mundane spell such as Wingardium Leviosa, so he shielded against it. He avoided the Confundo, but by doing so, he fell right into Bellatrix's trap. He saw the Stupefy whizz by to his right, but as he prepared to cast his next spell, she casted Stupefy again silently. He could only register a flash of red light speeding before him before his world went black. For the second time that day. There was no need to bring up what had happened during Transfiguration. He and Barty had made an agreement to never mention it to anybody.

Hadrian groaned as he slowly came back into consciousness. He was acutely aware of the throbbing pain in his forehead as tried to sit up.

"Why is it every time we duel that I end up on the floor?" He sighed, rubbing his head.

Bellatrix snorted. "You're just not up to my ability level,"

"Of course not! You've had practice for years more than me, and you've also been in several duels where you've killed people!"

She nodded. "That's true. But, you have improved since our very first duel," She cast a tempus. "You are dismissed,"

Hadrian thanked her before he ran out of the duelling room, relieved that he was leaving both his last lesson of the day and the crazy, spell flinging witch. Excitement coursed through his body as he remembered that he and his father would be going to Malfoy manor tonight for dinner. He would also get to meet other children his age!

In truth, Hadrian was the most eager to talk with and interact with the children of death eaters. He had never truly talked with any other kids or let alone done anything with them. Boy wonder and his cronies Ronald Weasley and Neville Longbottom didn't count.

On his way to his room, he passed Barty who was holding his head in his hands and muttering something about bunny rabbits, switching spells and Larken Avery's undergarments. Hadrian shuddered in horror before he hurried down the hallway. He gave the password to the portrait of Martel the Malevolent before he entered his room, trying to erase that particular memory.

Sonoro raised her head from her rock where she was enjoying the warmth of the sunlight.

' _How was duelling?'_ The diamond starred uniform snake slowly slithered off her rock.

Hadrian sighed. ' _The same as every other time. We duel, I end up on the floor. Honestly, I think the floor's starting to get sick of my back, abdomen or face crashing onto it every single lesson'_

Sonoro flicked her tongue out. ' _Well, just remember that the insane witch has had a lot more experience in duelling than you have'_

He nodded. ' _That's true. In fact, Bellatrix had said something quite similar when I had asked her. But, on a brighter note that doesn't involve the duelling floor, we're going to Malfoy manor tonight for dinner'_

Sonoro hissed happily at this ' _Does this mean I can get my scales polished?'_ She asked in excitement, perking her head up.

Hadrian laughed. ' _You'll have to find somebody to polish your scales for you, or probably blackmail poor Walden Mcnair into doing it,'_

Sonoro got this look of pure evil on her face that if Hadrian had been facing in combat, he would have been running for the hills.

' _Well, snake child, if you need me, just look for Walden Mcnair,'_ With that, she got off her rock and slithered over to the large white pipe opposite Hadrian's bed and entered it, disappearing from sight. Hadrian shook his head. Sonoro honestly scared him sometimes.

 _An hour or three later, Riddle manor…_

Hadrian arrived in the manor foyer to see his father already standing there, wearing a black cloak with a silver clasp over a pair of dark blue robes. Hadrian himself was in Emerald robes, Sonoro wrapped around his left forearm, a smug expression on her face to match her brightly polished blue and green scales.

"Are you ready?" His father asked. He nodded.

They flooed through to Malfoy manor, to which there was a lot of grumbling from Sonoro and landed gracefully onto a black marble floor. Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy were there to welcome them in.

"Good evening my lord, Hadrian, welcome to our manor. It is an honour for you to be here with us. Please, come in and take a seat," Lucius said smoothly.

"Thank you, Lucius. I'm sure that Hadrian is quite elated to have some contact with others his age," He smiled in amusement.

"Oh, yes. Draco is very happy as well. He is actually in the living room with everybody else. I can show you there if you want," Narcissa spoke up, with a smile.

"Thank you,"

As Narcissa led Hadrian out of the floo atrium, he noticed all the fancy décor and paintings that lined the walls. It was quite different to Riddle manor, which was more simply elegant than overly exquisite. The wizards and witches in the portraits slowly woke up as the two went by, and stared at them curiously, yet still managing to look cold and poised. He noticed that nearly all of them had white-blond hair.

They arrived after a few twists, turns, corners and moments at a spacious room. Two crystal chandeliers were illuminated and hung from the high ceiling which was supported by marble beams with intricate carvings on it. The fireplace in the stone wall was lit, and the clear night sky could be seen out of the tall, near-floor length windows. Bookshelves lined the walls, and pieces of fancy, luxurious furniture were situated on the green-grey patterned carpet.

A group of children who looked around the same age as Hadrian were seated on the green and blue couches and armchairs, talking and occasionally snickering at something. They all stopped when they noticed them standing in the doorway.

"Draco, Pansy, Theo, Blaise and Daphne, I would like you to meet Hadrian Riddle, the son of the dark lord," Narcissa introduced him to the 5 that were all staring at him in curiosity. A look of surprise came over the faces of everybody but Daphne when they heard who his father was, but it quickly disappeared a second later.

"Hello, I'm Draco Malfoy. This is Pansy, Theo, Blaise and you've already met Daphne. It's a pleasure to meet you," The boy who had white-blonde hair and looked quite a lot like Lucius Malfoy said formally.

"I shall leave you all to get acquainted. Dinner is being served in 45 minutes," Narcissa said before leaving.

"Come sit with us," Daphne motioned towards the empty seat besides her. Hadrian sat and looked at the other three who he had never met before.

The girl, Pansy, he assumed, had long black hair. Her face sort of reminded Hadrian of a Pug, which he had seen a still photograph of once in a muggle book he found in the Potter's attic about the characteristics of different Dog breeds. It was meant to be for Callistus as a present for when the Potter's had visited the muggle world, but Callistus had thrown a huge fit about receiving an ordinary muggle book, not brooms, candy or toys. How did he know this? The Potter's had planned to leave him at Potter manor, which Hadrian was quite content with, but then they realized that Hadrian could possibly wreck-havoc on and sneak into parts of the manor he wasn't allowed in, such as the brewery, or gods forbid, Callistus's toy room. Not that he had any use for the brewery or wanted to enter Callistus's room. He feared that all the bright red would make him throw up.

He shook himself out of the memories of Potter manor, and back to Malfoy manor. The next boy, either Theo or Blaise on the right of Pansy had olive skin and dark hair. He was quite broadly built and had a strong jaw. He was quite the opposite to the boy beside him, who looked rather weedy, had glasses and from what Hadrian could tell, was quite tall.

The girl spoke up "Hi Hadrian, I'm Pansy Parkison. Pleasure to meet you!" She said brightly.

"I'm Blaise Zabini," The boy on her right said.

"I'm Theodore Nott," Said the boy with glasses.

"It's a pleasure to meet you all," Hadrian said politely, even though internally he was excited.

There was a bit of an awkward silence amongst the six, until Hadrian broke it.

"I would like you all to meet Sonoro," Here, Sonoro peeked her head out of Hadrian's left sleeve.

Pansy cooed, while Draco and Blaise both marvelled at her.

"You have a snake?" Draco asked, quite amazed. Hadrian nodded.

"She's my companion,"

' _I still feel dizzy. I'm going back to sleep'_ Sonoro grumbled and started to retreat her head again but stopped when she saw the other 5.

' _Who are they?'_ She hissed curiously.

' _That is Draco Malfoy, Pansy Parkison, Blaise Zabini, Theodore Nott and Daphne Greengrass,'_

' _Oh, I remember Daphne! She's that girl who bet you in a race while she was in a dress! Hi Daphne!'_ She hissed happily.

"Sonoro says hi, Daphne," Hadrian translated.

"You're a parselmouth?" Theo asked quietly. "There's only been a dozen or so parselmouths by birth, including Salazar Slytherin,"

' _That's true. Parselmouths by birth are extremely rare. Typically, Parselmouths teach themselves by interacting a lot with my species. You are quite special'_ Sonoro hissed.

Draco, Blaise and Pansy were all still gaping at them, but in a way that only an aristocratical pureblood could pull off.

Sonoro started to make a cross between a hiss and a chuckle.

' _That blond boy reminds me of a white ferret. Ferrets taste good'_

"Draco, Sonoro says that you look like a white ferret, and that ferrets taste good," An offended look came over Draco's face as he slowly scooted away from Hadrian and Sonoro, while Daphne snorted in the most un-ladylike manner.

"There you go, Draco. See, you do look like a ferret. Even Sonoro says it," She smirked.

"Hey! It's not my fault that snakes think everything is food!" Draco retorted in a slightly hurt tone.

"Admit it, Draco. You look like a ferret," Theo said.

"Not like you can say much, weed," Draco shot back.

"Ooooooo snap!" Blaise cried, laughing.

This ended up turning into an argument amongst the 5 where everybody was insulting everybody else. Hadrian and Sonoro swivelled their heads between everybody as they fired roast after roast, all while still managing to look and sound the part of regal, civil composed pureblood children they were.

"You're one to speak, Pansy. You can barely dress yourself without looking like a try-hard who had an epileptic fit in a muggle makeup store,"

"Don't even go there, Daphne. We all know you are completely un-aware as how to properly apply makeup," Pansy sniffed.

Just then, the 5 arguing purebloods, plus Hadrian and a fitfully snoozing Sonoro, honestly, how that snake managed to sleep with all the ruckus going on around her was completely beyond Hadrian, all went quiet as a loud crack sounded through the living room, and a house elf wearing a pillowcase appeared in front of them. Well, except for Sonoro. She continued to slumber blissfully, undisturbed by all the craziness going on around her.

"Mistress and master Malfoy wants Dobby to tells master Draco and his friends that dinner is ready," He squeaked in a high pitch voice. Draco nodded and waved a hand dismissively at the house elf.

"Tell father and mother we are on our way. Now go,"

Dobby bowed, snapped his bony fingers together and disapparated from the room with a loud crack.

"Everybody, lets go," Draco said as he stood up from the couch. They all stood up and patted down their robes, making sure that their appearances were all perfect and pristine.

When they arrived at the dining room, the 6 saw that their parents were already there. They all sat next and as soon as they were seated and ready, the entrée magically appeared in front of them.

As everybody was enjoying the wonderful mushroom and cream soup, Hadrian was introduced to everybody's parents. He politely nodded and said greeted them all.

Once the main course, Bison Steak with Potato, Rosemary and Aspagagus in a chilli Bursted Tomato spread was served, the adults moved to talking about politics and the death eaters. Draco, Pansy and Daphne started to make conversation within themselves, making sure to remain courteous and well-mannered in front of their parents. Hadrian was pretty shocked at how different they were behaving in front of their parents, compared to when they were in the living room. A few meters away, curled up on a rock whilst being fed raw meat by a terrified house elf, Sonoro yawned, revealing her sharp teeth and making the poor house elf squeak in terror and drop the piece of Venison clutched in its hands onto the Malfoy's polished black marble floors. Trembling, while keeping its eyes on Sonoro, it picked it back up and quickly vanished the stain with a snap of his fingers.

As Dessert, Ice cream Profiteroles, was served, Hadrian noticed Theo staring at Sonoro as she rather scarily swallowed a roasted pidgeon whole. It was a rather gruesome sight.

"She's a Diamond starred uniform snake. The last of her kind, sadly," Theo looked over from Sonoro, startled that he had been caught staring.

"Oh, that's a pity. She's such a beautiful snake too," He said softly.

"I'll be sure to tell her you said that. Great, that's just going to boost her ego even more…" He muttered. Theo snickered quietly.

After everybody was well stuffed with delicious food and had just about finished their conversations, it was quite late. Voldemort stood up.

"Lucius, Narcissa, thank you for your gracious invitation to us tonight. I'm afraid it is quite late and that we must be leaving," He said, before turning to Hadrian.

"Hadrian, we shall be going now. Go say goodbye your new friends and allies,"

He waved to the 5 who all waved back and politely said goodbyes to their parents, before thanking Mr and Mrs Malfoy. He picked up Sonoro who was having fun slithering in and out of a mini tree-log that the house elves had brought her. Ignoring her hissed protests, he put her around his left forearm and went over to his father who was waiting for him.

The pair flooed back to the manor's floo room, and everything stopped spinning, Hadrian head Sonoro declare that she would never use the floo again. Voldemort just smirked.

' _You're still better than Nagini. She straight up refuses to use the floo at all and will anchor herself to anything she sees if you try to make her'_ He hissed, amused.

' _Well, she's a lot bigger than me. I can't do that' Sonoro grumbled._

"Hadrian, Sonoro, I trust you had an enjoyable time and made new friends and allies. Now, it is quite late. Both of you should be heading to bed now. Goodnight,"

"Goodnight, father,"

Hadrian gave the password to Martel the Malevolent and entered his bedroom. He was rather happy that he had met five new young wizards and witches who he now considered friends.

' _Sleep well, Snakeling,'_ Sonoro hissed as Hadrian got into his bed.

' _Goodnight, Sonoro,'_ He fell asleep, a peaceful expression on his face as he dreamed of all the things he would do with his new allies and friends.

 _The next morning, Potter manor…_

Lily Potter was sitting in the Potter manor living room, sipping a cup of orange juice and reading a muggle magazine when the idea to phone her sister suddenly appeared in her mind. She picked up the telephone and dialled the number that Albus Dumbledore had gotten from Dave Mason, the father of the owner of the company that Vernon worked at. A few rings later, a fake happy voice came through the telephone.

"Hello, you have reached Petunia Dursley! Who is this?"

"Hi, Tuney, it's me, Lily. Lily Potter,"

She could instantly hear the change in her sister's voice. "Lily. How did you get this number?" Petunia said coldly.

"Well, when James and I heard you and Vernon had moved, we phoned Grunnings and asked for your new number," She lied smoothly. "By the way, tell Vernon I said congratulations on his new promotion!"

"Hmph. Anyways, what is the reason you called today?"

"Oh, I just wanted to say congratulations on Vernon's promotion and ask how you and the rest of your family is settling in! I hope everything is going smoothly for you?"

On the other end, Petunia started to sweat nervously. Lily couldn't know that she and Vernon had sent her son off to some god-forbidden, crumbling orphanage in the middle of England. In fact, she had heard from her friend Margaret Halford that the old orphanage had recently burnt down…

"We're doing just fine. Your son and his…freakish abilities have been a new change for us, but we have managed to make slight changes to our routine to take care of him," Petunia sniffed in distaste as she mentioned Harry, but Lily waved it off. Her sister would never be comfortable around magic. Lily had also been slightly confused for a second about what Harry was doing with Petunia, but then remembered that they had sent Harry away to live with her. For some odd reason, he was also rather happy to go live the Dursleys too…

"That's good to hear. Petunia, I also need to tell you that usually, when a wizarding child turns 11, they receive a letter of acceptance into a magical school,"

"Vernon and I are NOT going to pay money for your son to go learn magic spells and how to make toad spawn at some expensive magic school! We will not have it!" Petunia hissed.

"Petunia, you don't need to worry about that. All the costs for Harry's education are going to be covered by James and me. Once he is 11 and until he turns 17, he will spend the majority of the year at the school," She frowned. Obviously, Harry couldn't go to Hogwarts. He would probably be jealous that Callistus got special training and was the boy-who-lived, not him. And that wouldn't be good if her poor Callistus or anybody around him got hurt…Durmstrang? No…It wouldn't do to have a Potter, even if it were a Potter not living with them in an institution of dark magic.

"Fine. But he better not cause any mischief around our household with his abilities, or else we will pull him out and transfer him to Duddykins. He would be better off there, anways," She spat out the word abilities as if it were a curse word.

Lily nodded. That sounded fair enough, after all, if Harry was doing things with magic were too difficult for Vernon and Petunia to handle, there was nothing else to do but pull him out. And besides, she wanted Harry to have the least amount of contact with Harry as possible. The more he knew, the bigger a threat to Callistus and the rest of the wizarding he would be.

She heard a loud wail from upstairs, and instantly shot up from the couch, alarmed.

"Sorry Petunia, I have to go! Thank you again for taking in Harry!" She quickly put down the telephone and rushed upstairs to see what was wrong.

She found Callistus throwing a temper tantrum on the hallway floor in front of a bookshelf.

"Callistus, honey! What's wrong?" She kneeled down so she was eye level with her son.

"This book says that this muggle boy is the boy-who-lived, not me!" He yelled. By now, James had come up as well to investigate what the problem was. He picked up the book and threw it to the floor in anger.

Lily looked at the cover of the book. It was a muggle book and it showed a picture of a smiling boy with a metal arm. The title read 'The boy-who-lived'.

"Oh, Callistus, sweetie! People call that boy the boy-who-lived because he survived a shark attack! You're the wizarding world's saviour and our hero! You vanquished a dark lord! You're the real boy-who-lived," She reassured Callistus. At this, he stopped wailing immediately and sat up.

"Come on, let's go flying, son," James said, trying to cheer Callistus up. It worked. His face instantly brightened up at the thought of being on a broom. They both rushed off in a competition to see who could get changed the fastest into their Quiddich robes. As Lily watched their retreating figures dash off with a smile, her previous conversation with Petunia drifted back into her mind.

Callistus was the boy-who-lived. He had vanquished Voldemort. The prophecy about Callistus defeating Voldemort for the last time had shattered. This meant that he could have a happy childhood. If Harry, his twin, went to Hogwarts, he would see how Callistus was treated due to being the saviour of the wizarding world. Harry Potter could not go to Hogwarts. She would try to do everything in her power to make sure that Harry Potter would not set foot in Hogwarts within the next 10 years.

"Harry Potter must not go to Hogwarts. If he did, Callistus will get hurt," She said and shuddered as she imagined her poor Callistus getting injured.

She walked into the room that she and James shared to get her wand, and out of the corner of her eye, she saw a pair of James's robes that had the symbol of a Panther-like creature on it. The crest of the Ilvermorny house, Wampus.

She remember that James had gotten it from that time in their 7th year, when everybody in their year level was invited to spend a month at Ilvermorny, the American wizarding school as exchange students. Lily herself had refused, but she remembered that James had enthusiastically agreed and had had a great time there, if his continuously told stories of the times he and the Marauders there was any indication.

Harry could go to Ilvermorny. It was basically the American version of Hogwarts. It spoke English and didn't dabble in the dark arts or any form of magic that was illegal. She'd have to speak to James and perhaps Albus, but she felt that Ilvermorny was the perfect school for Harry to go to. Besides, if he went to Ilvermorny, he wouldn't have too much contact with anything that concerned Callistus. Lily nodded to herself and went back to the living room, where she went downstairs and started practicing some advanced charm work while the delighted whoops and shouts from her son and husband on the Quiddich pitch sounded through the house. She smiled as she watched them. She could honestly swear sometimes that there were two Potter kids in their family, not just one.

 _The house of the Beach, Melbourne, same time…_

Petunia Dursley breathed a sigh of relief as the telephone line went dead. Her sister had not suspected that in fact, they were not housing her freakish son and that there was quite a large chance that he was either six feet under, ashes or seriously injured. Just then, Vernon walked into the living room dressed in short sleeves and a pair of shorts.

"Who was that?" He asked as he grabbed his cap off the table.

"Oh, it was just my sister. She wanted to say congratulations on your promotion and ask how her freaky son was," She said airly. "I told her that he was still with us," He nodded.

"As long as she and the other freaks don't come breaking down our front door, we should be fine," He said before he kissed her on the cheek. "Bye, Pet. I'm going to the park with Dudley to play some football. He's turning out to be a fine lad at it too,"

Dudley came into the room holding a rather grubby looking football and wearing a t-shirt with the number 5 on the back. Whenever it stood for his number on the local football team or his IQ is still debatable.

"Bye, Vernon dear! Bye, Duddykins!" She gave her son a hug as he and his father both walked out of the front door.

Petunia picked up the telephone again and dialled in a number.

"Hello Ava! How are you? Oh, that's excellent! I was just calling to let you know that you our next book club meeting can be at my place. Yes, I did see that dress! What was she thinking? Yeah. Really rather unfortunate..."

Petunia continued to gossip away with her friend the phone about the locals. She eventually hung up and began watering the flowers in her garden. The conversation with her sister had completely slipped from her mind as she hummed to herself and sprinkled water onto a Rose bush. Her lie about Harry had fooled Lily Potter, but little did she know that it would all come unravelled in 4 years, when Harry Potter would turn 11.

 **My apologies for how long this chapter took, and if anybody seemed particularly OOC, especially the Dursleys. I'm also really not quite sure how pureblood 7-year olds behave, so I took my best shot. Anyways, thanks for reading!**


	14. Chapter 13

**Chapter 13**

In the blink of an eye, nearly 4 years had flown by. It was a cloudy yet humid morning when a Tawny owl had attempted to fly up to the manor's window, only to be vaporized with a loud shriek by the newly set manor wards. They had to renew them after a muggle delivering pizza had accidentally somehow stumbled through them.

Let's just say, after that incident, Barty had a new obsession with Italian foods.

Hadrian, now nearly 11, looked up from his Blueberry Waffles at the noise. Barty, Bellatrix and Voldemort all turned towards the white envelope with a red wax seal that lay on the windowsill.

Sonoro looked up from her breakfast of fresh raw beef. ' _Snakeling, I think that's for you'_

"I think that letter is for you too, Hadrian, if the seal colour is anything to go by," Voldemort said.

Hadrian frowned. "If I summon the letter, I'll break the glass,"

"It can be repaired,"

Hadrian flicked his wrist and grasped his wand, wordlessly casted _Accio._ The white letter zoomed towards him, shattering the glass window in the process.

"Reparo," He murmured as he examined the letter that now lay on the floor.

"Bellatrix, inspect this letter for hexes, traps or hidden spells," Voldemort ordered. Bellatrix bowed her head and began casting revealing spells. The letter glowed a dull blue and a dark violet.

"A mild tracking charm," He observed, then smirked. "It's a pity that monitoring and tracking spells don't work within a 10-kilometre radius of the manor," Never less, he waved his hand and _finited_ the spell.

Bellatrix handed it to Hadrian, who curiously removed the seal and took out the letter. Sonoro had slithered over to him and he picked her up, not taking his eyes off the letter as she wrapped around his left forearm.

 _Hogwarts School of WITCHCRAFT and WIZARDRY_

 _Headmaster: Albus Dumbledore_

 _( Order of Merlin, First class, Grand Sorc., Chf. Warlock,_

 _Supreme Warlock, International Confed. of Wizards )_

 _Dear Mr. Gjese,_

 _We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of necessary books and equipment._

 _Term begins on 1 September. We await your owl no longer than 31 July._

 _Yours sincerely,_

 _Minerva McGonagall_

 _Deputy Headmistress_

The second page was a list of all the uniform and things that he needed for his first year. After he skimmed over it, he put the letter down.

"It is my Hogwarts acceptance letter,"

His father nodded. "Very well. As reckoned. Today is the ninth of July, meaning you have twenty-two days to get your letter of approval back to Hogwarts. I think it is best that you send this letter off as soon as possible, however,"

Hadrian stood up. "May I be excused?"

"You may,"

Waving goodbye to Barty and Bellatrix, one who responded with a cheerful wave back and the other a nod, he left the dining hall and went to his room, the letter in his hand.

' _Are you excited to go to school, Snakeling?"_ Sonoro hissed. Hadrian thought for a moment.

' _I'm quite interested in seeing how things will turn out, and yes I am excited to go to Hogwarts. But having to learn first year material again…'_ He sighed. He was going to be doing a lot of sleeping with his eyes open for the first five years…

In the three, nearly four years of his stay at the manor, Hadrian had made a lot of improvements with his learning. He could now do most spells up to Fifth year level, and also had the potions knowledge of a Fourth year.

He sat down at his desk and took out a parchment and quill. He paused for a minute, thinking, before he decided on his reply.

 _To Professor Mcgonagall,_

 _Thank you for giving me the honour of being accepted into Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. I am confirming that I shall be there on the first of September._

 _Kind Regards,_

 _Hadrian Gjese_

His Gray and Black Eagle Owl Snabb swooped down from her perch in the corner of his room and landed on his desk. Sonoro peeked her head out of Hadrian's sleeve and hissed at the Owl, who glared back at her with her yellow eyes. Hadrian sealed the letter and attached it to Snabb's claws.

"Take this to Hogwarts, Snabb," Snabb gave him an inquisitive look, wondering why in the name of Merlin he would want to send a letter to where Ol' featherbrain Dumbledore was, but flew out of the window anyways.

' _Why did you have to get that owl?'_ Sonoro grumbled. Hadrian snorted and ignored her. Sonoro and Snabb have had a mutual hating for each other from the very first time they laid eyes on each other in the Swedish Menagerie two years ago.

After finishing some Transfiguration homework, he went to the main floo atrium and threw in some floo powder into the floo, watching as it flared a bright green and stuck his head into it.

"Draco Malfoy, Malfoy manor," A few seconds later, the platinum blonde head of a rather confused Draco Malfoy popped into sight.

"Hey Draco. Did you get this today?" Hadrian held up his Hogwarts letter. Draco's eyes lit up.

"I got it too! Mother and father are planning to take Blaise and I shopping tomorrow. We were wondering if you would like to come too,"

"Sure. I have no lessons tomorrow, and I'm quite sure my father would like some peace. I'll floo you back once I confirm,"

"Alright,"

 _The Next day morning, Riddle manor, main floo atrium…_

Hadrian quickly waved his Pinewood wand over himself and applied a glamour over himself. He had completely forgotten to that earlier in the morning. A second later, where Hadrian Riddle had previously stood was now Hadrian Gjese, who had light brown hair, a high nose and thicker dark eyebrows. The glamour had been modified by Rabastan who had managed to make it untraceable and could only be cancelled by the caster.

He flew in some floo powder, said his destination and quickly stepped in. As he appeared out of the green flames, he saw two figures, one with dark hair and the other with platinum blonde.

"Took you long enough, Hadrian. We're all ready to leave except for you," Draco sniffed in mock disdain.

"My apologies, your highness," He smirked as he dusted himself off. Everybody tried to ignore Sonoro's enraged hissing as she cursed the floo, the floo designers and the floo designers' ancestors for how bad floo travel was.

' _YOU GOOD FOR NOTHING, VILE PEACE OF JUNK!'_ Sonoro glared at the floo.

"Uhh Hadrian? I didn't know that Viper's could shoot venom out of their eyes…" Blaise eyed Sonoro nervously.

"Yeah. She hates the floo even more than Nagini, which I didn't think was even possible. Don't mind it,"

At that moment, Lucius Malfoy came in, looking as regal as usual and carrying his cane. He nodded at Hadrian.

"I assume we are all ready to depart?" He held out an elaborately engraved vase to the three, who each took a pinch of floo powder.

Draco went first. "The Vampires drink, Knockturn alley," He said clearly and stepped forwards, disappearing in the flames.

Sonoro shot a look of pure hatred at the poor floo as Hadrian went up to it and squeezed her eyes together tightly. A moment later, they landed in the dark and relatively empty bar. It hadn't changed much since the last time Hadrian and Sonoro had came here 4 years ago. The bartender gaped at them, his eyes wide as he eyed the four well dressed, aristocratical wizards.

Lucius wrinkled his nose in distaste sneered at the decor. They stepped out the pub and into Knockturn alley and after a few minutes of walking filled with numerous shady witches and wizards trying to sell them dodgy and unknown potions ingredients, they finally arrived at the entrance of Diagon Alley.

"But father, we should have bought that bloody Dragon's claw. It would have been so cool to put up in our manor," Draco whined as they entered Diagon Alley. Lucius snorted.

"I'm not Severus. We have enough artefacts around our manor without needing to buy potions ingredients,"

Unlike Knockturn Alley, Diagon Alley was full of bustling witches and wizards, going from shop to shop. There were a lot more people than usual because schools were starting soon, and everybody was doing their shopping. They received quite a few odd stares and glares. After Voldemort was supposedly vanquished 'once and for all', Lucius had claimed that he was not involved with the death eaters in Diagon Alley, who announced that he was back. They had questioned him, and found that he was innocent, which was true, because Lucius had not been with the death eaters that day. None of the inner circle except Bellatrix were. But still, many were suspicious and wary of him. They ignored the stares and made their way to Madam Malkin's.

"Hogwarts first year?" Madam Malkin asked as they walked in. They nodded. "Alright, hop onto a footstool each,"

As the measuring tape was measuring his arm length, Hadrian stared out of the window in the shop. He suddenly spotted a glimpse of red hair streak past, closely followed by another dash of orange. Hadrian could faintly hear the sound of something heavy hitting the floor outside as it fell to the floor. He saw a man with black hair and glasses pick himself up off the floor with a laugh and sprint past. He frowned. That man looked familiar…

He was broken out of his thoughts when he saw the measuring tape float across and start measuring the arm that Sonoro was on.

'Sonoro move further up my arm' He hissed quietly so that Madam Malkin who was helping Blaise wouldn't hear him. She heard and quickly slithered up in his sleeve and wrapped herself around his upper arm. When Hadrian turned back to the window, the man was long gone.

They paid for their robes and went to Flourish and Botts, which was filled with people.

"What's going on here?" Asked Blaise as the four tried to make their way to the School books section. Draco elbowed past another boy with bright Orange hair that was in their way as they tried to push through the thick crowd of excited Witches and Wizards. He turned around.

"Oi, mind where you're going," He grumbled as he looked up at them, before stopping. Realization dawned on his face when he saw Lucius.

"You're a Malfoy," He said, slowly looking back and forwards between them.

"Congratulations on your acutely accurate observation. And, judging by your bright orange hair, I would assume that you are a Weasley?" Hadrian drawled sarcastically. Ron turned red in anger and opened his mouth to retort when suddenly, the crowd of people in the bookshop seemed to part like magic and form a path. They started to murmur in excitement as they stared at the boy with curly Auburn hair who had just entered with his parents.

Hadrian, along with the rest of the people in the bookshop, turned around to look at the newcomer. He recognized him. How could he not?

The four years had not done very much to boost Callistus Potter's physical image. Aside from having gotten taller, he was still very much the same looks wise as he had been the day Hadrian left Potter manor. For some odd reason, the baby fat still hadn't left him. If anything, he had gotten just slightly pudgier.

Callistus waved to everybody who was staring at his V scar on his cheek in amazement. They rushed up to him.

"Oh my gosh, this is such an honour to meet you, Callistus Potter!"

"It's you, it's actually you! I cannot believe I'm meeting the boy-who-lived! It's a pleasure!"

"Thank you for riding our world from you-know-who! We shall forever be in your debt,"

Hadrian nearly snorted. Somehow, the public thought that Callistus had caused the prophecy to shatter. Oh, if only they knew…

Lucius, Draco and Blaise seemed to be thinking something along the lines with him, if the distasteful sneers on their faces were anything to go by.

"Let's go get your books while the adoring public is distracted by the boy-who-lived," Lucius said the last three words mockingly. They quickly got all their books, and a few extras, and paid for them before leaving the shop, pushing through everybody who was listening with enrapture to Callistus loudly recounting to a man about how he so-called 'defeated' Voldemort for the first time. They cheered and clapped once he was finished.

Hadrian shook his head. The rest of Diagon Alley had heard that CallisTtus Potter was in Florean and Botts and had immediately flocked there to get a glance of their 'saviour'. They only spotted a few people still on the street as everybody else was crowded in front of the bookshop to see the infamous Potters.

"Mr Malfoy, could I possibly go and do some shopping on my own while Draco and Blaise get their wands?" He asked. Lucius cast a tempus and nodded.

"Very well. We shall regroup at the Apothecary at approximately Half past one. Stay alert and be on guard," With that, Hadrian waved to Draco and Blaise before he turned around and headed towards Knockturn Alley.

' _Sonoro, would you like to go visit Vincent? It's been a while'_ He hissed.

' _Oo, yes let's go. I wonder if he's finally figured out that cakes should not be made in cauldrons'_ She hissed in excitement. Hadrian decided not to ask.

A few minutes, later, they finally found Leovardand's. Nothing much about it had changed either. The inside of the shop was still dusty, and the two wooden stools were still there. A familiar man with brown hair and the same curly moustache suddenly appeared.

"Can I help you?" He asked warily. He stopped when he saw Sonoro peeking out of Hadrian's left sleeve.

' _Sonoro? Is that you?'_ He hissed, confused.

' _Yes, it's me Vincent. How have you been?'_

' _I'm so glad to see you, Sonoro! I've been quite well recently. It's been quite a while since I last saw you. Speaking of when I last saw you, who is the boy who you are with right now?'_ He asked, eyeing Hadrian.

' _Hello, I'm Hadrian Riddle, also known as Hadrian Potter'_ He hissed back. Vincent's eyes widened.

"Mr Potter, I didn't recognize you there! Welcome back to my shop! Do you need anything?"

"Oh no, I'm fine thank you. Sonoro just wanted to come in and catch up with you,"

Sonoro and Vincent chatted in Parseltongue and told each other about what had happened in the past four years. Sonoro told him about Hadrian and her leaving the Potter's and getting adopted, but she didn't say who. Vincent told him about his trips back to Albania and how he thought there were still other magical snake species out there that might exist.

' _Oh, and Vincent? Have you finally figured out how to properly make a cake yet?'_ She teased. Vincent groaned.

' _For the last time, Sonoro, I told you, it wasn't my fault the cake exploded and covered the whole room in icing'_

' _No, it was the cakes fault. Of course'_

Vincent gave up trying to argue with Sonoro and turned to Hadrian.

"How has your wand been working these years, Mr Gjese?"

"Oh, it has been working very well so far," He cast a tempus and saw that there was around ten minutes left until half past one.

"Our apologies Vincent, but we must. We were told to regroup in Diagon Alley at half past one," He said apologetically. Vincent nodded.

"Alright then. Goodbye Mr Gjese. Feel free to come in anytime you want to get your wand cleaned or repaired," ' _And goodbye Sonoro'_ , He hissed.

"Goodbye," He waved.

' _Bye Vincent! Don't forget, cakes are not supposed to be made in cauldrons'_ Sonoro hissed.

Hadrian cast another tempus and saw that there was five minutes till half past one and broke into a run. He ran down the alleyway and turned a right corner before he saw the entrance of Diagon Alley and suddenly got knocked to the floor by something heavy, or rather, someone.

' _Ow, my tail'_ Sonoro grumbled.

The person they had crashed into yelled as they hit the floor, and a moment later, Hadrian could hear the sound of feet rapidly running to them.

"Oh my gosh Callistus baby are you okay?" He heard the frantic voice of somebody who he hadn't seen in four years.

'Excellent. Out of all the people in Diagon Alley, wonder boy and his wonder parents had to be the one that I have the misfortune of bumping into' He thought to himself. Sonoro must have recognized them too because she started to hiss in irritation.

"Watch where you're going next time," James Potter glared at him as he helped his son up.

"Excuse you? I am the one who should watch where I'm going? Correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't your son the one who ran into me?" Hadrian raised an eyebrow.

"He ran into me on purpose!" Callistus yelled as he stood up.

"I was just minding my own business before your whale of a son ran into me," Hadrian said boredly as he dusted himself off calmly before stalking past the fuming Potters.

"Get back here and apologize! How dare you call my son a whale!" Lily screamed at him. Hadrian shrugged.

"I'm just stating facts," He said calmly before he continued walking to the apothecary. Callistus turned red.

"You'll regret that! _Locomotor Wibbly_!" He yelled and shot the jelly-legs jinx at Hadrian, who effortlessly flicked his wrist and made his wand appear in his hand, before non-verbally reflecting it back, where it hit Callistus and made him collapse to the stone pavement.

"Hogwarts will be a breeze if the average talent and braincell amount is based off you," He smirked before continuing on his way. He arrived at the Apothecary five minutes late.

"Hadrian. You're late," Lucius said.

"My apologies, Mr Malfoy. I ran into the wonder family. Wait, no. Let me rephrase. The wonder boy and his wonder family ran into me,"

"What happened? Did you curse him?" Blaise asked excitedly. Hadrian smirked.

"He tried to curse me…and let's just say that didn't end well for him," Draco and Blaise laughed at this.

"Very well then, Hadrian. I suppose an exception can be made for your tardiness, depending on how painful the spell is that you used," Lucius joked with a faint smile.

"Oh, I didn't do anything too extreme. I don't want them to have a reason to blame me for 'Attempted murder' with a stupefy. I just shot his own Jelly-legs back at him,"

They got the rest of the items on their list and bid farewell to Blaise who returned to his own manor back at the Vampire's drink. Hadrian took a pinch of floo powder.

"Malfoy manor,"

He arrived back at the floo atrium and quickly went to the side as Draco emerged a moment later, coughing.

"They obviously haven't cleaned their floo in a long time," He grumbled.

"I shall see you at your next etiquette and politics lesson on Monday, Hadrian. That shall be our last session before you and Draco depart for Hogwarts,"

"Very well. Goodbye Mr Malfoy, bye Draco,"

"I'll see you later, Hadrian,"

He flooed back to Riddle manor, where he saw his father waiting for him on one of the seats.

"How was your trip?" His father asked, trying to ignore Sonoro's loud cursing in Parseltongue.

"It was fine, apart from the part where wonder boy and his super family ran into me quite literally," Hadrian said as he removed his glamour.

His father was silent as he thought for a moment. "And did you get a change to try the new hex you created?" Hadrian shook his head.

"Unfortunately, no. I only reflected the jelly-legs that he sent at me," His father noded.

"A smart decision. Neverless, that is a pity. Very well. The house elves have found you a suitable trunk with the spells already on it. It is in your room,"

He nodded. "Thank you father. I'm going to go pack for Hogwarts now,"

"Very well. Oh, and a few words of advice, Hadrian: Bring extra undergarments. Take this from me," He shuddered. Only two things in this world could scare Lord Voldemort; Nagini and the traumatizing experience of not bringing enough underwear to Hogwarts in fifth year. He was still scarred from that.

Hadrian gave his father the confused look but nodded anyways. He went to his room and found an average looking trunk in the corner but recognized the magic sensory security system. He started to pack all the things that he had bought today into the trunk.

' _Sonoro, what do you think is the Potter's reaction to their precious saviour getting hexed is?'_ He hissed.

' _Hmm. Extremely mad?'_ Hadrian snorted.

' _That sounds about right'_

 _Potter manor, the same time…_

Lily Potter fumed as she remembered what had happened back in Diagon Alley. That little jerk had the nerve to hex her precious Callistus! Callistus was going to be traumatized now because of that attack on him…And that boy was probably going to Hogwarts too.

Speaking of Hogwarts…

She picked up the phone and dialled Petunia's number, trying to calm herself down. A few rings later, her sisters tired voice sounded through. "Hello, this is Petunia Dursley,"

"Hi Petunia, it's me Lily. I'm sorry if I disturbed you, but I was just calling to see if Harry has received his letter from Ilvermorny yet,"

Her sister paused for a minute, trying to think of a lie.

"I was awake anyways. Yes, he received the letter, but he doesn't want to go to a magical school anymore. He decided he wants to go to the same school as Duddykins,"

Lily was rather surprised at this news but nodded.

"Alright then. Thank you for taking care of him, Petunia. I'll tell Ilvermorny that he won't be attending anymore,"

Her sister sniffed and hung up.

Lily paused for a moment to think about this. If Harry wasn't going to be learning magic, then he would not be a threat to Callistus. She just had to make sure that Callistus never met Harry and then he would be safe.

She decided to internationally floo call Ilvermorny and threw in a pinch of floo powder.

"Ilvermorny School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, administrations," A few seconds later, the head of a middle-aged witch with brown hair and glasses appeared in the floo.

"Hello, this is the administrations desk for Ilvermorny Witchcraft and Wizardy. How can I assist you?" She asked.

"Hi, my name is Lily Potter and I would like to withdraw my son from Ilvermorny,"

"What is your son's name?"

"Harry. Harry Potter,"

The woman pulled up a long piece of parchment and began to scan through it. After a few minutes, she turned back to Lily.

"Ma'am, which year was your son enrolled into?"

"He should be a first year,"

She double checked the parchment. "Aha. Harry Potter. Ma'am, as far as I know, the letter to Harry Potter was never sent out,"

Lily frowned. "Why is that?"

"Does your son live with you, Mrs Potter?" She asked.

"No, he lives with my sister in Australia,"

The woman glanced back at the piece of parchment before she paused.

"Mrs Potter, when our letters do not get sent out, it either means that the person they are intended to does not exist or that they are dead…" She said delicately. Lily stared at the woman through the floo.

"But there's no way that Harry doesn't exist…and my sister said that he wished to attend a muggle school instead of a magical institution…" She frowned.

"I'm sorry miss, but is there a possibility your records have made a mistake?" She asked. The witch shook her head.

"Unfortunately, it is impossible for our students records to make an error," She said apologetically.

"Very well. Thank you. Would it be possible if I floo you back in a minute? I need to go talk with my sister,"

"Absolutely,"

Lily ended the floo call, thoughts buzzing around in her head. There was no way that Harry was dead…right?

She dialled Petunia's number and didn't wait for greeting before she blurted out "The Ilvermorny administrator said that the letter didn't reach Harry,"

On the over end of the line, Petunia froze. How was she going to explain this to her sister? She remained silent as she waiting for Lily to continue.

"She said that the only way that it never got sent is because Harry is either non-existent or dead,"

"W-what? Lily, are you sure about this? Your son isn't dead! What nonsense is she spouting?" Petunia stuttered.

"There isn't a way for their records to have been mistaken. Petunia, could I please speak to Harry?"

"Lily, it's four AM. He's asleep. The whole house is asleep, for goodness sake,"

"I know Petunia, and I'm sorry for calling you at this time, but I insist, you let me speak to him,"

"No! Lily, it's four in the morning! I will not go and fetch your son at this godforsaken hour in the morning and wake up Vernon and Dudley in the process too! Dudley has school today!"

"Petunia, this is an emergency. I insist, please, you let me speak to Harry to see if he's alive. Unless, there's a reason you don't want me to talk to Hadrian?"

Petunia paused for a moment. "Fine," She spat out. "Your son is dead. He was never with us all these years. We dropped him off at some crumbly dumpy little orphanage back in England that got burnt down. Your son is dead, Lily,"

Lily couldn't believe her ears. Harry was…dead? Strangely, she didn't feel sad. And she didn't feel guilty that she didn't feel sad either. All she could feel was surprise, and relief. She was relieved to hear that there was no way that Callistus could get hurt now.

She took a deep breath. "Alright Petunia. Thank you for telling me," She hung up and floo called the Ilvermorny administrations witch.

"Hello, this is Lily Potter again. I can confirm that Harry Potter will not be attending Ilvermorny this year,"

 **Hey guys. Sorry for how long this chapter took. I was overseas for 3 weeks over the Christmas break and I didn't bring my laptop with me. I'm pretty sure this is my longest chapter yet. Anyways, next chapter, Hadrian and his friends will be attending Hogwarts. Thanks for reading!**


	15. Chapter 14

**Chapter 14**

Hadrian closed his trunk and magically locked it before he banished it downstairs. He looked around one last time as he picked up Sonoro and decided to grab a book from his bookshelf before he walked out of his room and went down to the main floo atrium where his disguised father, Barty, Rabastan and Bellatrix were all waiting there. Rabastan was busy murmuring a spell over his trunk, which glowed a dull purple before disappearing.

"It's a spell that will recognize the magical identity of anybody who tries to open it other than you and record it down," Rabastan explained as he stood up.

"Are you ready?" His father asked.

"I've double checked I've got everything, and I've done the glamour," He nodded and cast a tempus. It showed that there was around half an hour till 11 AM.

"We should be departing soon. Barty, Bellatrix, Rabastan, I shall be returning in approximately half an hour. Do not let anybody but the rest of the inner circle in, unless there is a dire emergency," They nodded. Hadrian waved goodbye to everybody before his father took his wand in one hand and Hadrian's right arm with his other, preparing to apparate.

"Bye Hadrian! Tell me if the Slytherin Quiddich team is any good this year!" Barty called with a grin.

"I will!" His father gripped his arm tighter, and the next moment, his vision went dark and he felt he couldn't breathe. It felt like the pressure on his chest was tightening, his eyeballs and eardrums feeling like they were being forced into his skull. He could see blurs of colour as they spun around. Then, as soon as it had started, it stopped.

As Hadrian regained his balance, he could see bright colours that bustled around, and he could hear the loud chatter of voices. He pulled himself to his feet and as his vision began to clear, he could see that he was at a train station filled with children and teenagers pulling along their trunks and parents waving goodbye to their kids sitting on the bright Scarlet train. He could see the words 'Platform Nine and Three-Quarters' hanging overhead.

"Nine and Three-Quarters…interesting name choice," Hadrian said.

"The Ministry needed an obscure number that only the magical could ever have come through their minds," Voldemort in his Mr Gjese disguise sneered slightly as a loud bunch of Red Headed kids who were talking loudly rushed by them.

"Callistus! Over here!" The plump lady who seemed to be their mother waved her hand in the air. A moment later, they saw the boy-who-lived-to-break-the-child-obesity-world-record himself and his wonder parents coming towards the Weasleys who had parked themselves right in front of Hadrian and Voldemort.

"I reckon that it is about time that you board the train," Voldemort turned to Hadrian who was wrinkling his nose at the Weasley's and the Potter's enthusiastic greeting. Hadrian checked to see if anybody was watching before he magically stowed his trunk.

' _Can we move? I smell something nasty around here'_ Sonoro whined as she peeked her head out of Hadrian's sleeve, before instantly going back in once she saw all the people around.

' _That would be the wonder family and their loyal sidekicks'_ Hadrian hissed back quietly.

"This reminds me. Hadrian, if the headmaster or any staff member ever asks about her," Voldemort indicated towards Sonoro. "Take this note and show it to them," He pulled a piece of parchment, a quill and his disguised wand out of a random fold in his robes, and quickly wrote something on the parchment.

"Please excuse my son Hadrian's familiar. He needs her for personal reasons that he would rather not divulge, and for these reasons, she must remain by him at all times. She will not pose a threat to the school's students nor staff nor other beings in the castle and will not disrupt the schedules of my son or those around him. Thank you for your understanding, signed, Mr Thomas Gjese, the father and caregiver of Hadrian Gjese," He read.

"How do you store so many things in your robes? There are no charms other than a heating and cooling spell on them," It was one of the secrets that Hadrian would never find out about The Dark Lord.

Before Voldemort could reply, a loud warning toot came from the Hogwarts express, signalling it was about to go.

"Well, I should be going. I'll see you at Christmas, father," Hadrian looked at the Hogwarts express.

"Very well. I await your arrival. Stay cautious and low-key this year,"

' _Bye!'_ Sonoro hissed.

Hadrian quickly boarded the train, just as it was beginning to close its doors. He waved to his father who gave a small wave back and nodded. As the train began to pick up speed, the small figures on Platform 9 and ¾ started to blur past, until they pulled out of the station.

' _Snake child, we should go find the others'_ Sonoro said, pulling Hadrian out of his stupor. He shook his head quickly. He had been caught up in the thoughts that he would be going to Hogwarts, and socializing with other young witches and wizards his age, including the Golden Child and his little Golden squad.

' _Yes. We should'_

Hadrian had an idea of where the others were, and sure enough, when he slid open the door of the last compartment on the left, he found Draco, Daphne, Pansy, Theo and Blaise all sitting there.

"Oh, hey Hadrian. Come in," Blaise said cheerfully. He sat down between Daphne who was transfiguring chocolate frog cards into random things, and Theo who had his nose buried deep into a book already.

"So, are you guys all excited for Hogwarts?" Pansy asked as she painted her nails with ever-changing nail polish.

"Father reckons that first year will probably be too easy for all of us, especially Hadrian," Draco said.

"Speaking of which, what are you going to do in classes for the next five years, Hadrian? Are you going to request being put in a higher year?" Daphne asked curiously. He shrugged.

"I'm not going to ask to be put in another year group. I will have to down play my abilities, however. As for learning new material, I suppose I can teach myself from the resources of the library,"

"I bet you all that Callistus Potter will be praised and revered by all the teachers except Uncle Severus," Draco said.

"Please, Draco, we're not idiotic enough to take bets based on the obvious," Daphne rolled her eyes.

"Good point. But Blaise is," Theo added.

"Hey!" Said wizard protested loudly.

The six of them talked amongst each other, read, ate the ton of food that Narcissa had the Malfoy Manor house elves pack for Draco, all the finest quality, of course, and in Sonoro and Blaise's case, slept.

Sometime throughout the trip, they heard the rattling of wheels in the corridors outside, before it finally stopped next to their compartment door. Somebody knocked on the door, before Daphne opened it.

"Anything off the Trolley, dears?" An old witch pushing a trolley filled with sweets and pastry's asked.

"No thank you. We've already got food," Hadrian said politely.

Around an hour or two later, the compartment door slid open. This time it was a girl with bushy brown hair around their age.

"Has anybody seen a Toad? A boy named Neville's lost his," The girl said in an irritatingly bossy voice.

"Has a nobody taught you to knock before entering?" Draco drawled. The girl hmphed before she looked around the compartment. She saw Daphne, who was twirling her wand around mid-air, in the middle of conjuring something in the air.

"Oh, you're doing magic? Let's see them," The girl said. The blonde looked up in irritation.

"Can you not see that I am trying to cast a spell? Or do you need glasses in addition to a lesson in proper conduct?" She said coldly. The bushy haired girl bristled.

"I was just asking. Honestly, there's no need to be impolite," She said.

"Oh, my apologies. But please, tell me who barged into our compartment first without knocking? Obviously, the impolite one here is me," Daphne said sarcastically.

"Well, fine. I suppose you six haven't seen Neville's toad either, have you?" She asked.

"Nope," Blaise replied.

"Alright then," She paused, looking at their robes about to say something, before she saw they were all wearing their Hogwarts robes and left.

"Who was she? Having the nerve to burst in here and tell us we're impolite? No self-respecting witch or wizard would have the nerves to do that," Draco sneered. Theo shook his head.

"She was searching for 'Neville's' toad. I assume that she probably meant Neville Longbottom, one of Callistus Potter's cronies. It makes sense she was so rude, if she's associated with that bunch," He said.

Around half an hour later, the train came to a halt. The sky outside was dark, and they could see the moon and the stars.

"Let's go, guys," Pansy said. They managed to wake up Blaise, gathered all their things and joined the large crowd of students who were shuffling towards the exits.

When they got off the train, they could see buildings being illuminated by the streetlamps that lined the sides of the station. The village seemed cosy, and only a few residents were seen walking up and down the streets.

"Firs' years over here! Firs' years over here!" A loud voice with a thick West Country accent was yelling to their left. As the majority of the students headed to the right to take the Carriages, the first years were heading towards the towering figure. The six made their way over there and saw a tall man with a beard who was holding a lantern.

"Cmon, follow me – any more firs' years? Mind yer step now! Firs' years follow me!" He said once everybody had come over. He lead them all along a steep, narrow and dark path, on which quite a few students slipped over on, before the small, narrow path opened up to a massive dark lake with a few wooden boats docked at the shore.

"Woah," Blaise gasped as they spotted the giant castle across the shore that sat on top of a giant mountain, illuminated by the numerous lights that could be seen from outside the windows. A collection of 'Ooooo!'s could be heard from the first years as they too came up behind them and saw Hogwarts.

' _That is one massive castle'_ Sonoro commented in awe.

"No more'n four to a boat!" Hagrid called as he got into a boat by himself. Daphne, Pansy, Blaise and Hadrian got into a boat together while Draco and Theo shared a boat with the sons of two death eaters, Vincent Crabbe and Gregory Goyle.

"Everyone'n? Al'ight, FORWARDS!" Hagrid shouted. The boats started to move by themselves, gliding across the lake calmly. Pansy shivered slightly as she glanced around the water nervously.

"Are you alright?" Hadrian asked her. Pansy nodded.

"I'm fine, thank you. I just thought I spotted something large moving in the water…" She trailed off. Everybody turned around when they heard a loud shriek followed by a splash as something, or rather, someone, fell into the lake.

"Help! I can't swim!" A voice cried. They briefly saw a mop of Ginger Hair before it went under. Callistus Potter leaned over and tried to pull them out. The person managed to grab Callistus's hand, but Callistus couldn't pull them up and Callistus too fell into the lake with a giant splash.

"Stop!" Hagrid yelled. The boats came to a halt, and Hagrid manually paddled over to the two who was struggling in the water, before he pulled them out and deposited them back into their boat. Ron and Callistus were panting hard and dripping from head to toe, their uniform absolutely soaked. Neville Longbottom, who was sitting next to him, scooted away as Ron wiped some water off his face.

"Al'ight there?" Hagrid asked. "Don't yer worry, we'll get yer dried off once we reach the castle," They nodded, shivering.

"FORWARDS!"

They sailed into a dark tunnel, which lead them to some sort of an underground harbour. As everybody got out, Callistus pointed towards the boat that some girls had been sitting in.

"Nev, isn't that your Toad?" Right on cue, a green Toad hopped out of the boat.

"Trevor!" Neville ran forwards and scooped his toad up.

' _Pity he wasn't sitting in our boat. Toads make for a very nice dessert'_ Sonoro grumbled as they climbed up a flight of stone stairs that lead to a large oak door. Everybody crowded around Hagrid as he raised a massive fist and knocked three times on the castle door.

The doors swung open and revealed a strict-looking witch wearing Emerald green robes who was standing there.

"The firs' years, Professor McGonagall," Hagrid said. Hadrian recognized the witch from the photograph that Barty had shown him of all registered Animagi in the Britain. Her name was Minerva McGonagall and her Animagus was a Tabby Cat with Grey markings near it's eyes.

"Thank you, Hagrid. I will take it from here," She said. She pushed the doors wide open and lead the first years across the entrance hall's flagged stone floor. They could hear the loud indecipherable chatter of voices coming from the right where the rest of the students were. However, instead, Professor McGonagall lead the first years into a small chamber to the side.

She welcomed the first-years to Hogwarts and explained all about the Hogwarts houses, how the Hogwarts cup worked and the sorting ceremony. Before she left, she waved her wand over Callistus and Ron performed a drying charm on them.

"The sorting ceremony shall begin shortly in front of the rest of the school. I suggest you all smarten up in the meantime," She left.

Draco snickered and turned towards the two who were standing behind them with Neville and Hermione.

"Really, Potter, was Weasley that fat? Or were you just too weak to pull him up? Surely, coming from such a poor family, Weasley wouldn't be able to eat enough," He taunted them. Ron, who was busy trying to smooth down his cloak, glared at Draco.

"You're a Malfoy, aren't you? You'd probably know all about weak," Callistus spat. Callistus looked over to Draco's right and saw Hadrian. His eyes widened.

"You! You're the one who cursed me that day in Diagon Alley!" He yelled. Hadrian widened his eyes in mock-innocence.

"Me? But I never cursed you…I only cursed a spoilt obese whale…"

Pansy snickered at that. Callistus was about to say something back about 'dark lords', but suddenly everybody gasped as they saw four pearly-white, transparent ghosts glide in through on of the stone walls. They were arguing with each other, but they stopped when they noticed all the first-years who were staring at them wide-eyed.

"New students!" The ghost that looked like a Fat Monk said, smiling. "About to be sorted, I suppose?" Some of them nodded.

"Well, I hope to see you in Hufflepuff! My old house, you know,"

"Move along now. The sorting ceremony is about to start," Professor McGonagall's strict voice said. She had returned. The ghosts waved to the first years and floated away through the opposite wall.

"Now, form a line, and follow me,"

The first years formed a messy line, with Hadrian and Sonoro behind Daphne. They walked out of the chamber, back across the hall and through a pair of double doors around the same size as the Riddle Manor entrance doors.

Instantly, the sounds of excited chattering filled their ears. The great hall had four long tables where students all sat with their house, talking to each other and laughing. On top of the tables were golden plates and goblets. Above the students were hundreds and hundreds of floating candles that lit up the hall. The candles floated underneath a dark, star-dotted sky. It was as if the great hall didn't have a ceiling at all. Hadrian heard a voice whisper about how they had read about it in _Hogwarts, A History._ A long table was placed horizontally at the front, where all the staff sat.

Professor McgonaGall lead the nervous first years to stand in a line in front of the staff table, facing all the other students who were quieting down and staring at them. She placed a four-legged stool in front of the first years, and put an old, patched, dirty wizard's hat on the stool.

For a few seconds, it was silent. Nobody made a sound. Then, a tear near the brim opened and, to the first year's surprise, the hat began to sing.

Once the Hat had shut it's 'mouth, the whole hall burst into applause as the hat bowed to each of the four tables. Professor McGonagall stepped forwards, a piece of parchment in her hand.

"When I call your name, you will put on the hat and sit on the stool to be sorted,"

"Abbott, Hannah,"

A girl with blonde pigtails nervously stumbled up to the hat, put it on.

"HUFFLEPUFF!" The hat yelled. The Hufflepuff table cheered and Hannah went to sit with the sea of Yellow and Black.

"Bones, Susan,"

"HUFFLEPUFF!"

And so, the first-year students all walked up to the hat and put it on, waiting for it to call out a house. Some had their house called out instantly, while others took a bit longer. Hadrian stood still, a blank look on his face as he watched Justin Finch-Fletchley become a Hufflepuff. He could hear Sonoro hiss in excitement as his name was called.

"Gjese, Hadrian,"

He walked up to the hat quickly with the whole school watching him, and sat on the stool, waiting for Professor McGonagall to place the hat on his head. The brim covered his eyes, and, a second later, he felt something slip through his Occlumency shields with ease. He tensed inwardly. Something was invading his mind.

 _No need to worry, Mr Gjese. It is just me._ The voice of the hat chuckled in his head. _Hmm, how peculiar. Or should I say, Mr Riddle? Or perhaps, Mr Potter? Now, where should I put you?_

 _Slytherin._ Hadrian said loudly in his mind.

 _I'm not so sure. I see Cunning and Ambition, oh yes, most definitely. But I also see extreme intelligence. You would make a very good Ravenclaw, Mr Riddle. Or, oh yes – I see Loyalty to friends and your father. Now, where should I put you?_

 _I belong in Slytherin._ Hadrian insisted.

 _Very well. I suppose you are correct, Slytherin is where you belong._ "SLYTHERIN!" The hat roared.

 _Don't worry, Mr Riddle, I won't tell anybody who you are._ It said right before Professor McGonagall could lift it off his head. She pointed towards the Slytherin table, where he sat down next to a Third year and watched 'Goyle, Gregory' become a Slytherin too.

As Hermione Granger was making her way to the Gryffindor table, Professor McGonagall called out "Greengrass, Daphne,"

Daphne strolled up to the hat elegantly, her face a mask of calm. However, Hadrian knew that she was just hiding the fact that she was excited, and perhaps, a little nervous behind her flawless face that had no emotion on it at all. The hall was silent as Daphne and the Hat conversed, in which Daphne's facial muscles tightened ever so slightly, before the hat yelled out "SLYTHERIN!" She came over to the Slytherin table and sat next to Hadrian who gave her a slight smile which she returned with a nod.

They watched as each and every student got sorted into a house, until the line was only half as long as before.

Neville hurried towards the Gryffindor table, nearly tripping over, which caused a few students, mainly the Slytherins, to laugh a little. His face turned red as he quickly sat down next to Hermione.

"Malfoy, Draco,"

Draco walked up to the hat, a little bit of a swagger in his walk as he went up. He put the hat on, and almost instantaneously, the hat yelled out "SLYTHERIN!"

"Nott, Theodore,"

Theo sat down on the stool, and, a few minutes later, the hat was still silent. Theo's sorting was by fair the longest one yet. After another minute, the hat seemed to grumble something under its breath before it yelled "SLYTHERIN!"

When her name was called, Pansy made her way up to the stool elegantly, the same way that her friends had. Surprisingly, the hat took a while before it yelled out "SLYTHERIN!" She sat down next to Theo who was busy admiring all the décor around the great hall.

"Potter, Callistus," There was an excited murmur amongst the students as they stared at Callistus who walked up to the hat arrogantly, where he sat down on the poor stool, which gave a quiet groan. Just like with Draco, the hat barely even touched his head before it screamed "GRYFFINDOR!"

The Gryffindor table erupted into cheers and woops, overjoyed that they had the 'Boy-Who-Lived'. Callistus sat down at the Gryffindor table, where he was welcomed with open arms.

Finally, once 'Weasley, Ronald' had become a Gryffindor, it was time for Blaise to be sorted. When his name was called, he practically ran to the stool. His legs were tired from standing so long.

"SLYTHERIN!" The hat yelled. Blaise ran over to the Slytherin table, sat down next to Pansy and breathed a sigh of relief as his legs could finally take a break.

At the Head table, Dumbledore stood up. He was beaming at all the students, and his eyes were twinkling.

' _He looks like the bloody sun. Next, he'll be expecting everybody to worship him like it too'_ Sonoro grumbled.

"Welcome! Welcome to another year at Hogwarts! Before we start the banquet, I would like to say a few words. And here they are: Nitwit! Blubber! Oddment! Tweak! Thank you!" He sat down. The Gryffindor's and Hufflepuffs and some Ravenclaws clapped and cheered, while the rest of students either sneered or gave Dumbledore a confused look. Dumbledore waved his hands, and instantly, all different sorts of food, from Peppermint Humbugs to

As the school began to eat, Theo turned to Hadrian.

"Correct me if I'm wrong, but the headmaster just called us odd, stupid, obese and in need of change," He said.

"That would certainly be true, in the cases of Callistus Potter,"

"The old headmaster is going senile, I'd say. Must be all those muggle sweets," Draco sneered as he took some roast beef.

"Very true. Did you know that an excessive amount of glucose can lead to a bad memory and potentially brain damage?"

Blaise groaned from the end of the table. "Theo, for Merlin's sake, speak English!"

 _The Gryffindor table, the same time…_

The Gryffindor's were all welcoming Callistus and Ron. Poor Neville sat on the end of the Gryffindor table, quietly eating some potatoes and contemplating as he watched Callistus and Ron talk to the other Gryffindors. Nobody talked to Neville, who sat by himself.

Even though he was friends with both Callistus and Ron, he wouldn't quite consider them close friends. Every time, it was Ron who got to watch Callistus's lessons with Professor Dumbledore, it was Ron who Callistus had chosen to go on the Potter's vacation to Hawaii when they were nine, it was always Ron who would get to go to parties with Callistus as his plus-one.

Sometimes, Neville felt as if Callistus and Ron weren't his true friends…they didn't seem to care much about how he felt. They would sometimes test their pranks out on him, and once even covered his parents' special scrapbook in sticky green slime. It took hours for him to get it all off and his Gran had refused to help, asking why Neville couldn't have been like Callistus or Ron who already knew how to do the cleaning charm at ten years old?

Neville started to feel angry. Were Callistus and Ron even his true friends? They didn't care about his feelings and he felt like they just saw him as a prank-tester. They would sometimes tease him about his toad, or how he couldn't do magic. Did real friends really do that?

He found himself glancing over to where Callistus and Ron. Callistus was retelling the story of how Ron had fallen into the black lake and how he had tried to rescue him, but Neville who was in their boat had rocked it and caused Callistus to fall out too. All of the Gryffindor's who were listening to Callistus's story turned to Neville and gave him death glares for causing their saviour, the golden Gryffindor to fall into the lake. Some even muttered something about 'clumsy Squibs'. Callistus and Ron didn't pay any attention to the fact that practically the whole of Gryffindor was glaring at their so-called 'friend'.

Neville was fuming. How could they just throw him under the bus like that? Real friends wouldn't do that.

Neville looked around the great hall, and saw students everywhere who were talking, joking and eating happily with each other. Even on the Slytherin table, nobody was sitting alone, and if they were, somebody would quickly notice and start talking to them. Did true friends leave out each other when other people came onto the scene?

' _Callistus Potter and Ronald Weasley are not my friends'_ Neville thought. He didn't know why he had gotten sorted into Gryffindor. The hat had wanted to put him in Hufflepuff, saying that he had plenty of loyalty and kindness, but Neville had insisted on Gryffindor. His Gran was a Gryffindor, and so were his parents. He didn't want to disappoint them. Callistus and Ron were obviously going to be in Gryffindor, and he didn't want to be alone in Hufflepuff. But now it seems that, perhaps, Gryffindor wasn't the house he was supposed to be in.

He couldn't remain in Gryffindor. He didn't want to. Not when he knew that it wasn't his true house. Somehow, he had to find a way to get re-sorted.

"Hermione?" He tapped the shoulder of the Bushy haired young witch who was also sitting alone. She turned and face him curiously.

"Yes, Neville?"

"Have you ever read about a student getting re-sorted?" He asked. Hermione frowned.

"Why, yes, there is. I read about it in Chapter 15 of Hogwarts, A History. It said that there have been cases on numerous occasions that students have been re-sorted, but they have been very rare and far-apart. The last re-sorting was in the 19th Century, where a girl was threatened by her parents that she had to be in Ravenclaw or else they would dis-own her. When the headmaster of that time, Headmaster Rowett found out, he was furious and had contacted the Ministry of Magic before getting her re-sorted into Hufflepuff," Hermione said. Neville nodded, his head spinning with information.

"Why are you asking, Neville? Do you think that you were put in the wrong house?"

"Yeah…I do. I'm not sure that Gryffindor is the house I'm meant to be in," Neville said.

"Oh, how so?" Hermione asked as she put her fork down and turned to fully face him.

"Well…it's a bit of a long story…" And so, Neville began to tell Hermione the whole story about his Gran and his parents and how he had wanted to be in the same house as his friends. He didn't say who his friends were, but Hermione was a smart witch. She could put two and two together.

"I'm so sorry to hear what happened to your parents, Neville,"

"It's okay. I didn't really know them," Neville said sadly.

"You can go to the Headmaster Dumbledore's office after the Welcoming Feast to ask to be re-sorted if you really want. I can come with you if you want,"

"Really? Thank you, Hermione!" He said happily.

Hermione and Neville talked for the rest of the Welcoming Feast. Neville told Hermione about what it was like to live in a wizarding society, while Hermione told Neville all about Hogwarts and its history. The topic of Neville using his father's wand also came up, and Hermione told him that each wizard's wand is not the same, as each wand chooses its owner. Hermione told him that he'd also have to talk to his Gran about that. At the end of the night, a friendship, closer than the one that Neville had with Callistus and Ron had formed between the two Gryffindor's.


	16. Chapter 15

**Chapter 15**

An hour after the welcoming feast, Albus Dumbledore sat in his office happily and popped a Lemon Drop into his mouth. It was the start of a new year, and not just any year, but the year that Callistus Potter started attending Hogwarts. No doubt the student roll would increase if parents and students alike heard that the boy-who-lived, the one who defeated a dark lord when he was a baby and the wizarding world's saviour was here. That also meant that Dumbledore would have be seen and known by more of the younger generation and his influence would be even greater.

He was happy that Callistus was in Gryffindor, but he didn't really expect anything else. Both his parents had been wonderful Gryffindor's too, and so had every other member of the Potter family.

That reminded Dumbledore of a conversation that Lily had with him around half a month ago. Lily had found out that Callistus's twin, Harry Potter, hadn't actually been living with her sister's family, the Dursleys, and was, in fact, probably a mere bone by now.

Lily didn't want to tell Callistus in case he was traumatized by the news, and Dumbledore agreed. Now that Voldemort was finally gone, and the Death Eaters lying low for a few years now, and possibly for the rest of the near future, Callistus could finally have a normal childhood, without being raised to defeat a dark lord. Of course, Callistus still receive private lessons from Dumbledore, but now they weren't training to take down Voldemort. He was just training to…learn how to defend himself in the future. Yes, that was all.

Dumbledore was brought out of his thoughts from loud voices that seemed to be arguing outside his office. Fawkes cracked open an eye from his perch, then decided to go to sleep again.

"-But professor, please, it's about Neville's house!" A female voice pleaded.

"I understand that there may be complications concerning placement in house, but I am certain that it can wait until tomorrow," Professor McGonagall's strict voice said.

"But please professor, Neville doesn't think he's in the house that's correct for him,"

"Miss Granger, I repeat, please return back to Gryffindor tower. It is late, and the headmaster does not wish to see anybody until the morning," She said, her voice turning sterner.

Dumbledore opened the Phoenix door and stepped outside.

"Hello, Minerva, Miss Granger, Mister Longbottom. I trust you are all having an enjoyable evening?" He saw his Deputy Headmistress standing outside the door with a Bushy haired young witch and Neville Longbottom, who he knew was Callistus's friend.

"Professor Dumbledore. Miss Granger and Mister Longbottom insist that Mister Longbottom has been placed in the incorrect house, and would like to see you," Professor McGonagall pursed her lips into a thin line.

"How about continue this conversation next to the fireplace? There seems to be a bit of a chilly wind out here, I must say," Dumbledore's eyes twinkled cheerily he lead the three into his office.

Dumbledore waved his hand and lit the fireplace, it's red and orange flames crackling against the brick. He sat down in a squishy armchair with Professor McGonagall, Hermione and Neville opposite him.

"Tea?" He offered. They all shook his head. Dumbledore didn't seem bothered and cheerfully poured himself a cup and took a sip.

After a while, he spoke up.

"Now, Mister Longbottom, what is this matter about?"

"Ahem, uhm, well, I don't really think that Gryffindor is well, my house…" Neville said nervously.

Dumbledore looked at him curiously, slightly slipping into the sweating boy's mind. He could see memories of around an hour ago at the welcoming feast, where Neville had talked to the Granger girl about how he had only gone into Gryffindor because he wanted to follow in his parent's footsteps and because-

He was pulled out of Neville's mind before he could view the memory of him telling Hermione the second reason as Minerva sighed.

"Mister Longbottom, Miss Granger, it is late. You both have lessons tomorrow bright and early. It would be quite wise if you were to return to Gryffindor tower now. You can come back to discuss this matter with Professor Dumbledore when you have both settled into Hogwarts," She said sternly. Dumbledore nodded.

"Ah, yes. Please excuse an old man. I was not aware it was so late. However, do feel free pop back in tomorrow after classes for a chat," He smiled, his eyes twinkling in a grandfatherly manner. "Now, off you trot to bed,"

Once they had left, Dumbledore sat back on the chair and thought about what had just happened. It seemed that the Longbottom boy obviously wasn't as close to Callistus Potter as they had hoped. It was a shame, as Alice and Frank were both good friends with Lily and James. What had gone wrong between Callistus and Neville?

From what he could see from the boy's mind, he had wanted to go into Gryffindor because he didn't want to disappoint his parents and because of something else. He would have to find out the second reason tomorrow when they came again. The boy had wanted to be re-sorted, and right after the feast, no less. From the times that he had talked to Neville briefly when visiting Potter manor, or at social events, he couldn't have had the courage to make that decision all by himself. That Granger girl, who he already seemed quite close to, had helped him.

The Longbottom's were an affluent, beloved light family. Frank Longbottom had a seat on the Noble Twenty-Two. Neville was a perfect person to be friends with the boy-who-lived. But obviously, he wasn't that close to Callistus and Ron as Dumbledore wanted him to be.

No, Neville Longbottom could not be sorted into another house. The heir of the Longbottom's was the best person to be friends with Callistus. Plus, their parents were childhood friends. He would have to deny Neville a re-sorting tomorrow. Dumbledore sat at his desk thoughtfully and came up with numerous excuses as to why Neville couldn't get a re-sorting. Hermione Granger, his muggle born friend, seemed to know a bit of the Hogwarts History from what he could gleam from her mind as she left. He would have to make the excuse legitimate enough for her to believe. It was for the greater good of both his reputation and the Potters.

Yes, it was for the greater good. Neville Longbottom had to remain in Gryffindor.

 _The next day, Slytherin boy's dormitories…_

At exactly six AM sharp, Hadrian's eyes jolted open. He looked around and remembered that he was in the Slytherin first year boy's dorm. There were no actual windows in their dorm, only large banners with the Slytherin crest. To his left, Draco was sleeping peacefully, while to his right, Blaise was snoring loudly. It was a wonder that Draco or Theo, who was on the far left, weren't woken up.

Hadrian usually got up at six AM at the manor and practiced a few spells before going for a jog around the manor grounds, with Sonoro racing him. She was getting fast enough that by the time Hadrian had finished, she would be peacefully chewing on a Rabbit's foot or the tail of some poor Rodent. Last night, after being led in by the prefects, Professor Snape had introduced himself and a few basic rules around the common room. Hadrian had been so tired that immediately after he got changed and set up protections around Sonoro, he fell asleep.

On his dresser, curled up on a rock being warmed by the artificial sunlight spell Hadrian had cast over it, was Sonoro, fitfully snoozing.

' _Wake up'_ He hissed quietly. Sonoro stirred but didn't get up.

' _Sonoro'_ He tried again.

' _SONORO!'_

' _For Merlin's sake, can't I get some sleep around here?'_ Sonoro grumbled as she looked up at him and glared at him dead in the eye. Hadrian gulped.

' _Sorry Sonoro. I just woke you up because it's time for our morning run'_

' _Snakeling, are you sure that the other humans will let us go out the castle?'_

' _Okay, so maybe we don't know for certain. But besides, what's the worst that can happen?'_

It turns out, the worst that could happen was Hadrian and Sonoro getting chased around outside the castle by an angry Argus Filch who was yelling at them and threatening to give them a good whipping. Hadrian managed to lose him by casting a wordless notice-me-not on himself, and calmly walked right past a befuddled Filch who swore that he was there a second ago.

It was already around seven AM, and classes started at nine, so Hadrian decided to go back to his dorm, where the others were just starting to wake up.

"Good morning, Theo," Hadrian greeted as he walked into their dorm. Theo was just sitting up in his bed.

"Morning, Hadrian. Where were you?" He asked curiously.

"Just went for a morning run. I do it every day. Oh, yes, by the way, if you ever are doing something forbidden, watch out for an old Main Coone cat. It belongs to the caretaker Argus Filch. Wherever she appears, Filch will too,"

' _I have cat fur in my scales'_ Sonoro grumbled. Mrs Norris had leapt at Sonoro when they encountered her while coming back. Sonoro had gotten out of the way, but Mrs Norris's tail did graze her.

Hadrian brushed her off and got his robes from his trunk. As he finished changing, Draco and Blaise both slowly woke up.

"Morning. How nice of you to join us in the land of the living," Theo said. By now, he and Hadrian were already dressed in their robes and had put all the things they needed today into their bottomless bags, ready to go to breakfast.

Once everybody was changed and ready, which took quite some time, considering the fact that no matter how hard Theo protested, they wouldn't leave Blaise behind. After a few confused turns, double-backs and cursing the castle for being so complex, they found their way to the great hall. Because it was only half past seven, and classes started at nine, there were only a few students seen in the hall, sleepily helping themselves to some pumpkin juice and toast.

They sat down a few seats away from an exhausted looking fourth-year who was practically drowning in her porridge. As they ate, some people started to trickle into the hall, and gradually, the noise got louder. Around fifteen minutes after they arrived, Daphne and Pansy showed up, both looking refreshed and energetic.

"Morning boys!" Pansy said cheerfully as she sat down next to Blaise. Daphne helped herself to some bacon and swallowed before she spoke up.

"I guess you all didn't take the time to freshen up this morning?" She asked, not taking her eyes off her bacon. When nobody answered, she shook her head and muttered something that sounded like 'Idiot boys'.

At around eight, once most of the school was eating breakfast and chatting noisily, the heads of house came to their tables to give them all their schedules.

Professor Snape took one look at the six, shuffled through his papers and handed them their schedules without a word, then left.

"We have Transfiguration and Herbology with the Ravenclaw's first," Theo said.

"Guess what we have third? Flying with the Gryffindors," Daphne rolled her eyes.

"Can't wait to see them embarrass themselves. Bet you ten Galleons Longbottom won't even know how to get on his broom," Draco snickered.

"Potions with the Gryffindors last. That'll be fun," Hadrian grinned.

The six of them chatted a bit about what they expected classes to be like and who the teachers with, with Hadrian was discretely feeding Sonoro some Sausages, which she hungrily swallowed.

Up at the staff table, Dumbledore was enjoying his Bacon and Scrambled eggs. He saw Callistus Potter and Ron Weasley laughing and joking with two other first-year Gryffindors, then made a face as they saw their schedules. At the far end of the Gryffindor table, Neville Longbottom and Hermione Granger were sitting together and talking quietly. He frowned. It wasn't good that Neville was preferring to sit with somebody else other than Callistus and Ron. He would have to get those two to separate. Maybe, he should let Neville get re-sorted after all.

His gaze swivelled over from the Gryffindor table to the Slytherin. Draco Malfoy and his friends were sitting together. He recognized some of the children, particularly Daphne Greengrass. Her father, Roman Greengrass had a seat on the Noble Twenty-Two as the representative of the Ancient Noble family of Greengrass. They were a family that was infamous for being neutral, although Dumbledore had his suspicious that they weren't as neutral as they seemed…

Sitting next to Malfoy and Greengrass were the children of Nott, Parkison, Zabini, another neutral family who he suspected wasn't as neutral as they seemed. Another boy with light brown hair was sitting next to them.

Even though their families had all claimed to be innocent or under the _Imperius_ , Dumbledore didn't believe it one bit and tried to expose them but failed. They were model citizens, donating large amounts of Galleons to Charities and had family members who were high up in the Ministry. It maddened Dumbledore that Death Eaters walked around free, but he couldn't do anything about it. He would have to keep an eye on their children, and that unknown boy.

He was brought out of his thoughts, when, out of the corner of his eye, he saw a blue and green patterned snake peek out of the unknown boy's left sleeve and chomped up a piece of Sausage the boy fed it.

Was he going senile? Maybe his old eyes were deceiving him…but as the snake peeked it's head out again to snatch a piece of bacon from the boy's plate, he knew he wasn't seeing things.

Ignoring the curious stares of his fellow staff, he made his way down to the Slytherin table, where the boy ignored him and continued to eat his breakfast.

"Hello there, my boy. I trust you're having a good morning?" Dumbledore asked, his grandfatherly smile on his face.

"Umm, Hello, Professor Dumbledore," The boy said in confusion.

"I was just wondering; how did you do that marvellous illusion of a snake coming out of your sleeve? In all my many years, I have never seen such a great act of magic from one so young,"

Hadrian mentally cursed. The old coot had seen Sonoro. Continuing feigning confusion, he frowned.

"I'm sorry, sir, but what do you mean? That wasn't magic, it was my familiar," He said, and pulled out the letter that Voldemort had written and gave it to Dumbledore. Sonoro peeked her head out of his sleeve and stared at Dumbledore, recognizing him but didn't say anything.

Dumbledore nodded knowingly as he read the letter and handed it back to Hadrian. "Ah, right. Please excuse my old eyes. She is a very beautiful snake," He smiled at Sonoro, his eyes twinkling, who did the snake's equivalent of an eyebrow raise.

Dumbledore went back to the staff table after bidding Hadrian and his friends a pleasant first day and pondered about the mysterious boy. He had a very exotically patterned snake, who also seemed intelligent. Maybe the boy was disabled somehow, and his snake helped him through hard ships?

Back at the Slytherin table, Sonoro glared at Dumbledore.

' _Snakeling, I have a new name for the headmaster. Or should I say, Old Man Twinkle Toes?'_ She hissed, a smirk on her face. Hadrian snorted, and when Theo stared at him quizzically, he explained about Dumbledore's new name with props to Sonoro.

"Sounds about right," Theo laughed.

By then, it was nearly half past Eight. The six finished their food, got all their things and started to file out of the hall with a few other students.

"Transfiguration is…in the Transfiguration courtyards," Blaise squinted at his map as they walked.

"Really now? I would have thought it'd be in the Astronomy tower, by the name of it," Daphne said sarcastically. Blaise scowled.

They climbed a few stairs, went down a few stairs, finally found the courtyard, stumbled into a few random storage rooms, Draco tripped on a rock and dusted himself off snottily as they all laughed, Hadrian walked into a brick wall disguised as a door where Sonoro did not appreciate having a sore head after, until they finally found their class.

Even after obtaining what Draco complained about would surely become a bruise, some blood on Hadrian's cloak from the bloody nose he healed, and a spinning world on Sonoro's part, they were still the first people in the class. They all shrugged and sat in the back row closest to the wall. As they looked around, they saw that the Transfiguration classroom was a very large room with plenty of space. On the top of the walls were large windows in which plenty of light streamed through. On the bottom were Roman-style pillars that ran around the entire oval-shaped room. Around fifteen desks, each with two seats, were laid out in rows behind each other. At the front of the class were bookshelves that were stuffed with numerous books on the Practice of Transfiguration.

Hadrian nudged Draco discretely.

"Is it just me, or is that cat on the teacher's desk staring at us?"

Sure enough, a Tabby cat sat quietly on a pile of books on the Teacher's desk, its Emerald eyes fixed on them intensely.

"What's a cat doing in here? Is it the Professor's pet?" Pansy asked from behind them. Draco shrugged. At a closer look, Hadrian matched the cat to the picture of Registered Animagi in Britain. The cat was Professor McGonagall in her Animagus form.

At that moment, a loud group of chattering Ravenclaw girls suddenly entered the classroom. They laughed about something, then sat down at the desks in the front three rows, got out their books, wands and quills, ready to start.

It wasn't long before the rest of the students started trickling in. Tracy Davis from Slytherin, Anthony Goldstein of Ravenclaw, Amanda Helliford of Ravenclaw, Millicent Bullstrode of Slytherin.

After everybody had arrived and settled down, out of nowhere, the cat on the desk leapt off and morphed into the stern witch they had seen last night when they arrived.

"Transfiguration is the most complex and dangerous magic you will learn at Hogwarts," She said. "Anybody messing around in my class will leave and not come back. You have been warned," Then, she changed her desk into a pig and back.

Needless to say, this got a lot of amazement from the Ravenclaws, who started asking her when they would be able to do that, to which Professor McGonagall replied 'not for a few years'.

Hadrian was also impressed, but he didn't show it. He had recently learned how to do that at Riddle Manor, after a lot of coaching from Barty and a lot of desks with tails or ears. It took him a few seconds of immense concentration to do that now and seeing how the Professor had done it so smoothly without and hesitation was quite amazing.

It turned out that the lesson was very boring for Hadrian. Professor McGonagall handed them all some matches and taught them how to turn them into needles. Hadrian got out his wand, held it in his hand but didn't use it. Instead, he focused on wordlessly and wandlessly turning the match into a needle. It turns out, it was still too easy, even after turning the match into a flawless, sharp-ended golden needle and back. He sighed, and after a few minutes of pretending to try turning the match into a needle with some difficulty, he finally 'succeeded'. As it was, he was only the second person to do it.

"Well done, Mr Gjese," Professor McGonagall nodded as she walked past and observed his silver needle.

Hadrian spent the rest of the lesson coaching Blaise, who for some reason was amazing at turning the needle extremely sharp, but had difficulty making the needle normal needle colours. That was, what Hadrian considered normal needle colours. No matter how many times Blaise insisted, Cyan or Bubblegum Pink weren't normal needle colour.

Their next class was Herbology. The Ravenclaws and Slytherins all made their way down to the greenhouse, shivering slightly at the biting wind and sighing in relief as they entered the warm greenhouse where a plump, curly haired, kind looking witch was waiting for them.

"Hello! Welcome to Herbology! My name is Professor Sprout and I'm also the head of Hufflepuff," She said introduced.

"Now, Herbology is not a subject to fool around in. I know if you look behind me, all you see are plants. But be careful, some of these plants can make you sleep for days on end or can spit acid if you get too close," She warned. "But don't worry, we don't start working with them until third year,"

"Now, everybody, get on a pair of gloves and come with me," Everybody put on some rubber gloves and took off their cloaks and followed Professor Sprout to Greenhouse two.

"Today, we shall be working with Bouncing Bulbs. Now, you must be careful with these, because if you don't pay attention for even a second, one of them will bounce free and smack you in the face,"

The lesson consisted of mainly Professor Sprout explaining how to handle the Bouncing Bulbs and the Slytherins and Ravenclaws partnering up to try plant some into the dirt. Theo struggled with the Bulb while Hadrian created a space in a pot to put it. Sonoro was latched around his arm, still asleep. Honestly, sometimes Hadrian doubted that Sonoro was full snake, and not half rock. Next to them, Draco was loudly refusing to work like a mediocre muggle, while Blaise was rolling his eyes and thrust the Bouncing Bulb at Draco before grabbing the shovel from him and started digging.

After Herbology, the Slytherins and Ravenclaws trooped back up to the great hall for lunch. The hall was already filled with students loudly talking about how their first lessons were and enjoying their lunch. As Hadrian was eating his Pie, he reminded Blaise, who was stuffing his face in the politest way possible that they had flying next. Blaise just shrugged.

"I have a strong stomach," He said, taking a sip of his Pumpkin juice.

A few minute before lunch ended, Hadrian excused himself from the table and went back to the dungeons to put Sonoro onto her rock.

' _I assume you don't want to go flying?'_ Hadrian hissed.

' _Damn right I don't. The evil Floo is already bad enough, I don't need to be up in the air. Snakes don't fly,'_ She grumbled.

' _Okay. According to father, there's a small passageway in the second flight of stairs on the dormitory staircases. It was built for Salazar Slytherin's snake familiars to get from the Slytherin common room to outside. It leads to the part of the castle wall that faces the Forbidden Forest. You know, where the large tree we saw this morning, right? Yeah. The small tube leads out to there. Just activate it by saying 'Friend of thee kind, let me through to get in and out'_

' _Oo, a secret tunnel? Sounds fun! I'm going to go try it out now!'_ With that, Sonoro slithered out the dormitory. Hadrian chased after her and heard her hiss excitedly ' _Friend of thee kind, let me through'_ before the bricks moved to reveal a white tube which Sonoro slithered into and disappeared.

Hadrian sighed. ' _Well, I should probably prepare to see her tonight with some deer horn pieces as her souvenir'_ He thought as he walked out the Slytherin common rooms and to the Quiddich pitches for flying lessons.

Although he wasn't a natural-born flier, and neither was his father, he was still pretty good. Mostly, Barty had taught him how to fly though.

He hurried to the area of grass next to the Quiddich pitch, where he could see some Gryffindors excitedly chattering and the Slytherins sneering at them.

"Oh, hi Hadrian," Theo said as Hadrian approached them. "Where did you go?"

"I just went to drop Sonoro off at the dorm. Figured that Snakes probably wouldn't appreciate being in the sky,"

Theo nodded as he turned his attention to the witch up front with short grey hair. Her eyes were yellow.

"My name is Madam Hooch and I am the Hogwarts flying instructor. Well, what are you waiting for?" She barked. "Everybody, stand by a broomstick. Hurry up," The Gryffindors scrambled to get a broomstick that didn't have wry twigs, pushing and shoving some Slytherins in the way, who gave them nasty looks. Once everybody had stood by a broomstick, Madam Hooch got her own broomstick and used it to demonstrate it for them.

"Stick your right hand above the broom and shout UP!"

"Up!" Everybody yelled. Hadrian's, Draco's, Daphne's and Callistus Potters brooms instantly shot into their hands. Other people, such as Neville Longbottom, Hermione Granger and Theo weren't so lucky. Neville's simply didn't move, while Hermione's rolled around on the floor and Theo's flipped itself over.

After everybody's Broomsticks were in their hands, Madam Hooch walked up and down, correcting everybody's grip. She passed by Callistus and Ron with an appraising nod. She rubbed her forehead when she reached Neville and Hermione, helped them correct their grips after a lot of confusion and came over to the Slytherins.

After a brief glance at Draco, Daphne, Pansy, Hadrian and Blaise, she stopped at poor Theo, who had a dark expression on his face as he scowled at the broom. Callistus and Ron snickered when she had to help a furiously blushing Theo turn the broomstick around the right way and position his hands properly.

"Alright everybody, mount your broomsticks. When I say go, push off gently and aim your broomstick upwards slightly, hover, then come back down. Three, Two, One, go!"

The Gryffindors and Slytherins kicked off the grass and hovered above the ground, to the whoops of delight from the Gryffindor muggleborns. Hermione Granger and Neville Longbottom were gripping their brooms like a life-line, their faces paper white. Neville whimpered as his eyes wildly shot around, while Hermione's were squeezed shut. Hadrian glanced over to Theo and saw him trying to bore holes into the broomstick with his eyes.

"Alright, now come back down," Madam Hooch called. Everybody touched down gently.

"Now, you will lift off and fly forwards slowly by leaning forwards slightly on your broom. To stop, lean backwards, then come back down once you have reached the tree over there,"

The students mounted their brooms, kicked off and some such as Hermione, Neville and Theo drifted forwards slowly, inching over to the tree, while others such as Daphne, Draco, Hadrian and Callistus surged forwards, then came to an abrupt half and descended with ease.

"Good job, class. Now, I want you to practice coming back here, then making a slow turn by leaning to either side, going back to the tree and touching down. Go,"

Neville Longbottom's face was ghostly white as he leaned ever so slightly to the right, nearly tailing Pavarti Patil who was beside him.

"Hey, watch where you're going Neville!" She cried as she swivelled to the left to avoid getting knocked askew by Neville's broom. 

"S-sorry Pavarti," However, as Neville's concentration momentarily lapsed, he didn't realize that he was quickly nearing the wall of the castle. His eyes widened as he yanked his broom to the right to avoid crashing, but in his panic, he accidentally angled his broom up as well.

He started to rocket upwards, becoming smaller and smaller as he flew into the sky.

"Ahhhh!" He cried as his broom kept rising higher and higher.

"Angle down, boy!" Madam Hooch yelled. Neville pushed his broom down a straight 90 degrees and started to head straight towards the field. Lavender Brown screamed.

"He's gonna crash!" Sure enough, a second later, Neville plummeted towards the ground and crashed into the grass lawn with a loud boom as his shooting star 280 broke into splinters and flew at the students who had dismounted their brooms and watching the whole incident in horror. Everybody ducked to avoid flying splinters. Luckily, right before he crashed, Madam Hooch had whipped out her wand and cast a slowing-falling charm on the him.

Neville was lying on the ground. He had passed out from his head crashing into the ground from 15 meters at 40 kilometers per hour, even with Madam Hooch's well-practiced _Aresto Momentum._ Madam Hooch ran towards him, her face ghastly white, resembling the same pale shade as Neville's had been a few seconds ago.

"He's out cold," She tried to lift Neville put failed, and instead put a levitation spell on him, causing him to float above the ground. "None of you touch the brooms while I take him to the hospital wing. If I hear that one of you so much as even picks up a broom, you'll be out Hogwarts faster than you can say Quiddich!" She warned them sharply, before she levitated Neville inside towards the Hospital wing.

For a few seconds, nobody spoke. Until finally, Lavender Brown started to cry.

"Is he dead?" She sobbed. "Oh my gosh, I think he's dead!"

"It's okay Lavender. I'm sure Neville's okay," Callistus said as he moved to comfort her. Lavender smiled at Callistus with a tear-streaked face. However, her friend Pavarti was glaring at him.

"You're supposed to be his friend, Callistus. You should have known that he wasn't comfortable flying, yet you didn't even try to help him! I thought Gryffindors helped each other," She said angrily.

"Hey, don't blame Callistus, Pavarti. He couldn't have done anything," Lavender said.

Deciding to ignore the little argument going on in the Gryffindors, Hadrian decided to go see how bad the damage had been. There were splinters of the old broom that Neville had been using that were lying on the ground, along with what seemed to be something crimson that seemed to be Neville's blood. However, he quickly realized that it wasn't blood, but actually a Remembrall. It must have fallen out of his pocked when he crashed. The Remembrall wasn't broke either, and as he picked it up, he confirmed that it was Neville's when he saw the note attached to it that read 'So you don't constantly forget things, Neville. From Gran'.

"Guys," Hadrian said quietly as he approached his friends. "Look what I found,"

"Is that a Remembrall?" Pansy asked. "Where did you find it?"

"I'm pretty sure it's Longbottom's, judging by the note," He showed them the note, and Draco sneered before taking the Remembrall.

"Let's have some fun," He said deviously, before he turned towards the Gryffindors who had now made up and were all chummy again.

He waved it at them. "Hey, look what I found? It's the squibs Remembrall! Figured, only weak wizards like him use these," He laughed.

"Hey, that's Neville's!" Dean Thomas, a Gryffindor cried.

"Give it back, Malfoy!" Callistus yelled. "It's not yours!"

Draco smiled nastily. "How about I leave this up somewhere for him to find, like, say, a tree?" He smirked at his friends before he mounted a broomstick, kicked off and easily flew over to the tree. Theo and Pansy looked worried, Daphne and Hadrian face-palmed simultaneously and Blaise yelled in excitement.

Callistus turned red in anger and grabbed a broomstick too, mounting it much to the protests of "You'll get expelled!" From his house-mates. He raced over to Draco.

"Give that back here, or I'll knock you off your broom, you slimy snake!" He yelled at Draco, who in turn just sneered.

"Whatcha gonna do, Potter? Tell mommy and daddy? Well, spoiler alert, your golden parents aren't here to save their golden child anymore. What a shame," He laughed. "Go fetch, Potter!" He tossed the Remembrall high up into the air, then swooped back down to the ground, dismounted his broom and put it carefully back to its original place.

Callistus lunged over, pulled into a dive followed by a sloth-barrel roll and easily caught the Remembrall with one hand, to the amazed gasps and cheers of the Gryffindors, and the eye-rolls and sneered mutterings of 'What a show off' from the Slytherins. He touched down to the grass with self-satisfied grin on his face.

However, the grin was quickly wiped off when he saw Professor McGonagall running towards them.

"CALLISTUS POTTER!" She yelled.

"Never, in all my time at Hogwarts-"

"But please, Professor, it wasn't his fault-"

"Be quiet, Miss Granger,"

"But Malfoy-" Said person smirked from where he was standing with his friends.

"That's enough, Mister Weasley! Potter, come with me," She marched back towards the castle, with a reluctant Callistus Potter trailing after her. Draco and a few other Slytherins had looks of glee on their face. The Gryffindors were shooting pitiful looks at Callistus, and death glares at the Slytherins.

It was at that moment that Madam Hooch rushed back, quickly surveyed the scene, and saw Callistus's broomstick lying on the floor a few meters away from the other. She sighed in exasperation.

"Who was touching the broomsticks?" She asked her students, glaring at every one of them.

"It was Callistus Potter. He got on a broom and did a dive and some sort of a trick," Hadrian said as innocently as he could. Madam Hooch nodded, and the Gryffindors broke into an outrage.

"Professor, it was Malfoy! He baited Callistus!" Ron yelled and pointed to Draco, who faked a puzzled look.

"Weasley, the idea of being on a broom that isn't broken twigs must have made you even stupider. I didn't even touch the brooms. Or, perhaps, you need some glasses? Not that your family could afford them," Draco smirked.

"That is quite enough, Malfoy. Weasley, Malfoy's broom hasn't even moved an inch from its original placing. I highly doubt he baited Potter," She narrowed her yellow, hawk-like eyes at the protesting Gryffindors, who instantly stopped.

"Look! Callistus is back!" Seamus Finnegan said. Sure enough, Callistus was strutting towards them.

"Ah, just in time. Potter, why did you disobey my instructions and get on a broom and perform tricks?" Madam Hooch fixed him with a stern glare. Callistus however wasn't scared.

"Malfoy took Neville's Remembrall and got on a broom and was going to chuck it into a tree, Professor. Then, I saved Neville's Remembrall and Professor McGonagall saw and made me the Gryffindor Seeker," He said smugly.

"Oh yeah? And what proof do you have that I baited you?" The Gryffindors started to yell things at him, to which the Slytherins started to yell things back at them.

"everybody STOP!" Madam Hooch blew her whistle, and everybody stopped fighting.

"Malfoy, Potter, both of you, detention at six tonight,"

"What?! Why do I have to get detention? I was saving Neville's Remembrall!"

"But I didn't even touch the brooms!"

"No, that's my final decision. Detention at six tonight outside the Broom sheds. And Merlin pray that you both behave sensibly, or else you will get another month of detention helping me clean the old brooms," She threatened.

The Slytherins and Gryffindors trudged back up to the castle. Draco complained sullenly about how he'd have to go to detention with the wonder boy.

"My father will hear about this," He said superiorly. Daphne sighed.

"Please, Draco. Your father can't help you if you did something wrong,"

"But it's not fair that I have to go to detention with Callistus Potter!" He spat out Calistus's name like a curse word.

"Well, you deserve it for doing something you weren't supposed to do," She shrugged.

They shivered as they entered the colder part of the dungeons where their potions class was. Everybody silently entered the class and sat down, the Gryffindors looking at the jars with different organs and creatures floating in a yellow liquid uneasily. The atmosphere of the room was dark and creepy, and it was made even creepier when Professor Snape swept into the room, his dark robes billowing around him and his black eyes, void of emotion, looked over them menacingly.

He started to take the roll, and when he got to Callistus, he paused.

"Ah yes, Callistus Potter," He said softly. "Our new…celebrity,"

Some of the Slytherins sniggered. Callistus started to turn red.

After Professor Snape took the role, he turned towards the class and gave them and introductory speech to potions. He paused for a moment after he finished and suddenly turned to Callistus.

"Potter," He barked. "What would I get if I added Powdered Root of Asphodel to an Infusion of Wormwood?"

Callistus shrugged. "I don't know,"

"Tut tut. Fame clearly isn't everything," Snape's lip curled.

"Yeah, well, at least I'm not famous for being a dungeon bat who doesn't wash his hair, Snivellus," Callistus said with a snicker.

The whole class waited with bated breath for Professor Snape to respond. He slowly swivelled his head around to stare at Callistus.

"Detention, Potter,"

"Yeah, I can't go to that. I already have detention with Madam Hooch," Callistus said casually.

"Until Christmas,"

Callistus started turning red. "You can't do that! My father won't let you!" He yelled.

"Wow, he's starting to sound like Draco," Blaise whispered to Hadrian. "Are they related?"

"Pity, Potter. Perhaps you should have considered that before you decided to oh-so-intelligently insult a professor," Snape sneered. "Just like your father,"

"My dad was a good man! He's better than you! At least he doesn't take happiness in assigning innocent kids to hell!" Callistus said angrily.

"And are you suggesting that you are innocent, Potter?" Snape raised an eyebrow, daring Callistus to talk back to him. When Callistus remained silent, he turned to Pansy.

"Parkison. When is Potter's detention tonight?"

"He has detention with Madam Hooch because he went on a broom without permission, sir," Pansy said.

"Disobeying orders on the first day, Potter? Just like your father. Insolent, foolish and mindlessly stupid," Snape tsked.

"Your detention will be at Seven PM, Potter. Every night, until Christmas day, if you do not misbehave in my classroom again," Callistus now resembled a tomato. The rest of the Gryffindors were shooting pitying looks at him.

"Oh yes. Fifty points from Gryffindor for disrespect. Now-"

"But I already have detention! You can't take points from Gryffindor too!" Callistus glared at professor Snape.

"A further 20 points from Gryffindor for interrupting a teacher. Now, you shall be brewing the boils cure potion. Instructions are on the board,"

The class got into pairs and collected their ingredients and started brewing the potion. Hadrian got the ingredients while Blaise set up their cauldron. They started brewing the potion, with Hadrian giving instructions while pretending to look at the board and Blaise doing the actual brewing. Snape swept around the room, nodding in approval at the Slytherins' potions and sneering at the Gryffindors'.

As they were waiting for their potion to cool down before bottling it, Hadrian looked around the dungeon. Things weren't going so pretty for the other pairs; The only Gryffindors who weren't failing were Hermione Granger and Pavarti Patil, who's potion looked decent so far. The Slytherins', bar Crabbe and Goyle, were all competent at brewing, having had lessons before coming to Hogwarts. On the other hand, Hadrian grimaced as he saw Callistus Potter's and Ron Weasley's potion. Instead of turning a light yellow at the halfway mark, their potion was a vivid shade of Orange. It matched Weasley's hair. They were frowning at the board and said something to each other before Ron added in 5 Porcupine Quills, not 3.

Hadrian's eyes widened and threw himself to the cold stone floor as their potion exploded, covering Callistus, Ron and a few people around them.

"OWW!" Callistus yelled as boils started to pop up all over his face. The Slytherin's and the Gryffindors who didn't get sprayed slowly backed up from the Gryffindors who were clutching their bodies and yelling in pain.

"Idiots! Who told you to add in 5 Porcupine Quills instead of 3?! Are you trying to kill us all?!" Snape snarled as he leapt in front of them and extinguished their cauldron before vanishing all their sabotaged potion from the ground.

Professor Snape hurried out of the room, his robes sweeping behind him.

"MAKE IT STOP!" Callistus wailed. A few minutes later, the medi-witch Madam Pomfrey bustled into the room with a stretcher and sighed when she saw the four Gryffindors rolling around on the floor in pain.

"Oh dear…This class again? We already had a boy come in earlier with a concussion…Merlin's beard…I'll have to get them to the hospital wing,"

Snape nodded, and levitated a struggling Ron off the floor and onto the stretcher. He lifted the stretcher with Madam Pomfrey into room that she had come through, and they disappeared for a few minutes, before coming back to fetch Callistus, Kellah Arthwick and Fay Dumbar.

By the time everything was cleaned up, it was almost the end of the lesson.

"Bottle up your potions, label them and put them on my desk. Your homework is to research what those fools did wrong today and how you can prevent yourself from being the imbeciles they are. And somebody inform Potter when he gets back that he has detention from 7-9 tomorrow," He swept out the room.

 _The infirmary, same time…_

Neville was sitting up in bed, reading his copy of _Hogwarts, a History_ that Hermione had lent him. He was startled out of his thoughts when he heard the Infirmary floo open, and Madam Pomfrey and a man with dark hair, dark robes and scarily dark eyes rushed out carrying a stretcher with Ron on it. They hurriedly put Ron down on a bed before they disappeared into the floo again.

Neville blinked. He couldn't properly register what had just happened. Slowly sitting up, he winced as his head pounded and his vision blurred slightly. He tried to see what had happened to Ron. From what he could tell, there were large boils that covered his entire face and arms. Neville shuddered in disgust. As if a concussion and a broken arm and leg wasn't enough, he though miserably, there had been other people in his class who had been badly injured. Ron seemed to be unconscious.

The floo opened again, and this time, as Madam Pomfrey and the intimidating man ran by, he could see that the person wasn't nearly as badly affected by the boils as Ron had been. They put them down on the bed next to Neville's and left again.

This time, less boils were on the person's face, and barely any were on their arms. As Neville set his book down and squinted, he could see that the person unconscious was Callistus Potter.

' _What happened?'_ Neville thought. Both his fake-friends were in the infirmary, knocked out, covered in painful looking boils. His eyes widened, and he almost puked up his meagre breakfast he had eaten in fear that his stomach would lose it all during flying class as he saw how badly the next person on the stretcher was.

The girl's face didn't have many boils on it, but rather horrible, long deep burns on her face, arms and even her legs. From Madam Pomfrey and the man's expressions, he could tell they weren't expecting her condition to be so bad. They said something inaudible to Neville, before only the man left again while Madam Pomfrey grabbed some healing salve and started to treat the girl.

The last person wasn't very badly affected; just a few boils on his arms and a small one on his nose. The man put her down, told Madam Pomfrey "If you need any excessive burn salves, just tell me," in his drawling voice, before leaving. Neville realized that the scary man was probably the potions master. He certainly wasn't looking forwards to potions class in the future if he was the teacher…

He turned away from where Madam Pomfrey was treating the girl to give her some privacy and continued reading _Hogwarts, a history._ He didn't know what had happened in potions class, but now, he really didn't want to attend if they would be visiting the infirmary every lesson.

 **Hello guys, and that is chapter 15! I think this is the longest chapter I've written yet, but also the shortest amount of time I've written it in…I was re-reading the Philosophers Stone while I wrote this, and I did use quite a bit of the things in it to write this chapter, so I apologize if it was really boring to have to re-read some parts of the Philosophers Stone again…Anyways, thanks for reading!**


	17. Chapter 16

**Chapter 16:**

 _A few hours after potions class…_

Hermione pushed the infirmary doors open and made her way to Neville's bed. He was sitting up in bed, still reading the copy of _Hogwarts, a History_ he borrowed from Hermione.

"Oh, hey Hermione," He waved with his good hand. "I think Madam Pomfrey might discharge me soon," He said excitedly.

"I'm not so sure about that, Mr Longbottom," Madam Pomfrey bustled up to him and examined his leg. "Hmm, doesn't seem to be getting worse. But this doesn't mean you can leave anytime soon young man,"

"Please, Madam can Neville and I just go speak to Headmaster Dumbledore? It's about Neville's house placement," Hermione pleaded.

"Absolutely not! Mr Longbottom hasn't even left the bed soon. He'll make it about two steps, even with my help, then topple over like a house of cards," She said firmly. Seeing their crestfallen faces, she sighed.

"If Mr Longbottom's bones heal correctly and without any future damage, I can discharge him in 4 days. I'm afraid that's the shortest amount of time I will have to keep him in here for. And thank Merlin Rolanda cast that slow-fall charm, else Mr Longbottom would be here lying in a full body cast,"

Neville looked a bit disheartened. "I suppose I'll just have to wait then," He sighed.

As Madam Pomfrey bustled off to help a Ravenclaw girl who was limping through with the help of her friends, Hermione pulled a chair at Neville's bedside.

"Which part are you up to? Have you read about the Black Lake yet? That part is my favourite," She said.

"Umm…I think I'm just about up to there…" He said uncertainly, flipping through the book.

"If you want to, I can let you borrow some other books, seeing as you'd have nothing to do in here," Hermione offered. Neville nodded gratefully.

"Thanks Hermione. For everything," He said with a small shyly.

The pair talked for a bit, with mainly Hermione telling Neville about potions class and what their homework was. Eventually, she had to leave since Madam Pomfrey kicked her out because it was near dinner time. She promised Neville that she'd visit again after class tomorrow with _100 Greatest Witches and Wizards to ever live._

 _Slytherin boys dormitory, the next morning…_

Having grown up surrounded by some of the most notorious dark witches and wizards of their time, including his father, and having duelled with them, accidentally spilt lemonade on one (He still shudders about that time) and having played death-Quiddich with one, which was about as safe as it sounded, not much could frighten Hadrian. However, included on that short list was Daphne on a quest for his blood, his father that one time when he saw Dumbledore in Gringotts, and Sonoro.

' _Snakeling, I'm back'_ Sonoro hissed. Hadrian blearily rubbed his eyes, and saw Sonoro sitting on his drawer, a snakish grin on her face.

' _What in the…'_ He hissed. Next to Sonoro was the severed, bloody head of a rat. It would have been a normal sight, considering the fact that it was Sonoro, except for the fact that it was three times as large as Sonoro.

' _Sonoro…'_ Hadrian rubbed his forehead in exasperation. ' _Why did you bring this in here? And how?! It's three times the size of you!'_

' _Hmm? Oh, Martha helped me. And I didn't want to leave it out where other creatures could find it and steal my work'_ She hissed. Hadrian decided to not question Sonoro, as usual, and got out of bed, getting changed for his morning jog. He quietly left the dorm by himself, leaving Sonoro to enjoy her rest. Realizing that one of his dorm mates would probably freak if they saw a giant rat head in their dorm, ran back, quickly put a notice-me-not on it then ran out again.

When he got back, he saw that everybody was already changed and ready to go. He breathed a sigh of relief as nobody had noticed the giant rat head just casually chilling on his dresser.

' _Uhh…can I you move the rat somewhere else please?'_ He asked quietly as they were walking to the great hall.

' _Why? It looks good. Adds some tasteful décor to the place'_

' _I'm not sure the others have the same opinion as you, Sonoro. And we can't just keep putting notice-me-nots on it, especially when it starts to smell'_

Sonoro hissed in annoyance. ' _Fine, I guess…I'll move it when you have class'_

When the Slytherins arrived at the great hall, they frowned. The other Slytherin's were all at their table, having breakfast like usual, but the Gryffindors and some Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws were gathered around a certain area of the Gryffindor table. When they got closer, they could see that everybody was crowding around Callistus Potter, unfortunately rid of any boils as he re-told the story of how he was made the Gryffindor Seeker and what had happened during their Quiddich lesson. When he finished, numerous people drifted back to their table, to go, gossip to their friends while others congratulated Callistus and shot dirty looks to Draco, who sneered back at them.

"Can you believe this? They're letting a first year be on the Quiddich team. Why aren't we allowed to be on it if boy wonder is?" Draco complained. "My father will hear about this," He shot Callistus a withering glare. Pansy shrugged.

"Draco honey, it is really quite unfair that they're favouring the boy who lived to never get a girlfriend, but not even Mr Malfoy can do anything if the Hogwarts Staff are this biased," She replied, cutting up a piece of her hash brown.

Daphne raised an eyebrow. "I wouldn't be so sure about that, Pansy. There are plenty of girls who would subject themselves to Callistus Potter's company just to be able to be associated with his fame and status," To prove her point, Daphne motioned to all the girls who were fawning over Callistus and squealing as they heard him recount one of his other stories about his heroic expedites on a broomstick.

' _You'd think that their vocal chords would get worn out by now'_ Sonoro grumbled as she chewed on a piece of bacon. She hissed loudly when one of the girls' squeals got particularly shrill.

After breakfast, the six of them headed to Charms class, eager to escape from the ear-torture in the form of high-pitched giggling from the Gryffindor table. Hadrian went back to the Slytherin dorms quickly to drop off Sonoro to do whatever she wanted.

(He still didn't trust Sonoro. Not that he didn't trust her to find the Slytherin dorms, but that he didn't trust her to see Callistus Potter or one of those Gryffindor girls who made half the school population deaf this morning and attack), the Slytherins made their way to the Charms class. Professor Flitwick was already sitting at his desk, his head barely visible over the books piled on his desk.

When all the Slytherins and Gryffindors had arrived, he started to take the roll, standing on a tall pile of books. When he got to Callistus's name, he gave a squeak and toppled off the books. Some of the girls screamed a little, before Professor Flitwick climbed back onto his desk with surprising ease, chuckling, before resuming the roll.

The lesson was pretty uneventful, compared to yesterday. Professor Flitwick showed them how to perform the levitation charm _Wingardium Leviosa._ The way that he taught him reminded Hadrian of Rabastan's method, which was the exact same. Then, Hadrian remembered that Rabastan had apprenticed under Flitwick to become a charms master. That explained it.

As the class started to practice, Callistus Potter managed to levitate his feather first, to his self-satisfied smile. His friends all congratulated him. Professor Flitwick too noticed, and called out "Well done, Mr Potter!" from the front of the class. Hermione quickly followed suit, not willing to be outshone as a top scholar.

"That was so easy," Callistus boasted to his friends. Daphne rolled her eyes.

"It seems like golden boy thinks that he's the only one who can do it without any trouble," She muttered, before giving her own wand a flick and making her feather hover around and smack Blaise in the face with a mischievously smirk, to which she received a dirty look. Hadrian nodded before he glanced at Flitwick, noticing he wasn't paying attention to them and shut his eyes. A moment later, the feather lifted off the desk, hovering a few centimetres above his wand which was also lying on the table.

He quickly opened his eyes and let the feather fall back down again and grabbed his wand just as Professor Flitwick turned back to them. He pretended to concentrate, before waving his wand and saying the incantation, before his feather lifted off the desk. Too easy.

Their next lesson was History of Magic with the Hufflepuffs. As it turned out, what Anne and Benson Avery had said was true; the class was indeed taught by a ghost. As soon as the students had sat down on a desk, Professor Binns started his lecture in the flattest monotone ever. Within the first five minutes, half the class had fallen asleep. Hadrian could feel his eyes start drooping slightly, but he forced himself to stay awake and dug out a piece of parchment and a quill. By the time the lesson had ended, Hadrian had not only finished his Potions homework but his Transfiguration homework too. It looked like the one class that he didn't know much about he'd have to teach himself in. At the end of the period, Professor Binns left without a word to his students, floating through the wall.

After lunch, the Slytherins all trudged to the opposite side of the castle, they arrived at a standard-looking classroom. As they went inside and stood around a bit uncertainly, Professor Quirrel arrived and stood in front of the Gryffindors and Slytherins.

"Good afternoon, class. Welcome to Defense Against the Dark Arts. I am your teacher, Professor Quirrel," The man introduced himself smoothly. "Now, when I say go, take out your wand and point it to the person besides you. Go,"

The class leapt into action, with some digging through bags, while others fumbled and drew their wands from their robes, pointing it uncertainly at their partner. Hadrian flicked his wrist and steadily pointed his wand at Daphne, who pointed hers back at him a split-second later. Across the room, Callistus Potter drew his wand and pointed it at Ron's face, a few seconds behind Hadrian and Daphne. Other pairs quickly followed suit too.

"Well done, Mr Gjese, Miss Greengrass," Professor Quirrel nodded in approval. From the front of the class, Callistus fumed silently that he wasn't first. "Now, the first spell we shall be learning is the paralyzing jinx, _Petrificus Totalus,_ " His eyes scanned around the room. "Would any pair like to volunteer to demonstrate?" He asked, pacing around the room.

"We'll do it!" Callistus and Ron yelled and scrambled up to the front eagerly.

Quirrel waved his wand and cast a cushioning charm on the ground and instructed Ron and Callistus to stand in certain places.

"Go ahead," He motioned to Callistus.

"Petrificus Totalus!" An aqua jet of light shot from his wand and hit Ron, who stiffened like a board, his arms gluing to his sides and his legs sticking together and fell over to the floor with a muffled thump.

"Finite," Professor Quirrel waved his wand, and Ron's body relaxed, and he clambered up from the floor with a grin.

"Thank you, Mr Potter, Mr Weasley. As you can see, the petrificus totalus renders the victim immobile and unable to move anything apart from their eyes. This spell can be cancelled with a simple _Finite_ but would otherwise last for approximately an hour if it were cast by one of you," Professor Quirrel paced around the room before he stopped and faced the first-years.

"Form a line in front of the practice dummy. As you may have seen from Mister Potter's demonstration, the wand movement is a simple point. For Finite, point your wand at the dummy and clearly say the spell,"

The class scrambled to get into a line. Draco elbowed a Gryffindor who was trying to push in front of them and sneered at him when he got a dirty look. Eventually, the class managed to get into what more or less resembled a line, with Callistus Potter at the front.

Callistus stepped up to the plain wooden dummy confidently, drew his wand and said the spell loudly. The dummy's wooden limbs stiffened as it fell over backwards with a large hollow 'Clunk'.

"Finite," Callistus said, and the dummy magically lifted itself into an upright position, it's arms and legs returning to normal. Callistus joined the back of the line, behind Hadrian.

"Hey Gjese? I didn't know that dark wizards could have friends. But it figures, you slimy snakes always hang around together," Callistus taunted him as the line gradually moved forwards. Hadrian facepalmed.

"The sheer amount of stupidity in that sentence makes my head hurt, Potter. The pampering truly has gotten to what little amounts of brain cells were in your brain when you were born," Hadrian drawled. Callistus turned red.

"Are you calling my parents stupid?!" He said angrily. Hadrian sighed.

"I never mentioned your parents. I called YOU stupid. But to be fair, they probably share the same traits of a lack of common sense if they were the ones to teach you such idiotic logic,"

"Oh yeah? And who's your dad? Voldemort?" Callistus shot back. Hadrian didn't reply, but instead stepped up to the dummy as Theo finished his finite.

"Petrificus Totalus," He said calmly. He watched as the dummy hit the floor with a satisfying thunk, then cast finite and joined the rest of the class at the back.

"Not bad. Now, can anybody tell me why we might use the Petrificus Totalus?" Professor Quirrel asked.

Hermione's hand shot up. "The Petrificus Totalus could be used to defend yourself against creatures by immobilizing them, or in duels as a way to prevent your opponent from moving and casting spells," She answered.

"A nice explanation. Five points to Gryffindor," Hermione beamed at the praise. "Yes, although many often see it as a 'beginners spell', the Petrificus Totalus is actually a very effective move in duelling. If your opponent isn't able to move anything but their eyes, how could they defend themselves? How could they attack you? The same goes for a magical creature. Although some may have resistance to certain spells, you could stop even creatures such as the Acromantula with it,"

"Sir? What's an Actomantula?" Janett Loryn raised her hand.

"The Acromantula is a species of giant spider. We study them in Fifth-year," Quirrel replied. When Ron shuddered, Quirrel gave an amused smile. "Don't worry, you won't be likely to encounter them unless you go to South-East Asia or into the Forbidden Forest," That didn't seem to help, and Ron turned a shade paler, which was a real contrast to his bright ginger hair. Quirrel continued to talk about the other creatures they would study this year, and how, when he brought them in, they could use the Petrificus Totalus if anything went wrong.

"Your homework is to write half a foot on the ways you can use the Petrificus Totalus in both self-defence and offence. Due Friday," Quirrel said as everybody grabbed their stuff and stowed their wands.

"Mr Gjese, stay behind," He called. Hadrian shrugged when his friends gave him curious glances.

"I'll see you guys back at Slytherin," He told them. They left.

"You wanted to see me, Professor?" Hadrian asked. Quirrel nodded.

"Your father wants to know how you are finding the education so far," Hadrian feigned confusion, but inside, his blood was racing. Did Quirrel know that Voldemort was his dad? How?

"I'm sorry sir, but my father? He's overseas right now…Do you know him?" He asked. Quirrel chuckled.

"Sorry Hadrian. I forgot to tell you. I'm a very close acquaintance of your father's. I helped Bartimeus reform him four years ago," Hadrian still didn't trust him.

"Bartimeus? Who's Bartemius…my father doesn't know somebody named Bartemius…" He said and gave Quirrel a weird look.

"Quiddich-fanatical young man in his twenties? Member of the inner-circle?" Quirrel grimaced as he remembered something. "A real fan of Death-Quiddich, with extra Death?"

"I never knew you were a death eater, Professor Quirrel," Hadrian shrugged, dropping his guise. Quirrel shook his head.

"Not a death eater, but a close acquaintance. I met your father in Albania,"

"Alright. I've got to remember to ask my father about that. Tell my father that classes are ridiculously easy, and to tell Nagini that Sonoro has found the secret tunnel,"

"Very well. You are free to go, Hadrian. And if anybody asked, you dropped your potions textbook this morning and I picked it up," Quirrel smirked.

As he went back to the Slytherin common room, narrowly avoiding a trick step on the grand staircase, he mused to himself about his classes. Right now, after two days, they were ridiculously easy. He would obviously have to find a way to teach himself the fifth-year curriculum. Borrowing the textbooks from the library wouldn't do; The staff may be blind enough to follow old man twinkle-toes, but he was pretty sure their lack of eyesight wouldn't extend far enough for a first-year to constantly be borrowing books meant for a fifth-year. Perhaps he could send an owl to his father and ask him to send the books under dillusionate charms?

It turns out, however, that his father was already a step ahead of him. When the Slytherins managed to wearily sit down at the table the next morning, exhausted from having had Astronomy last night, he recognized his father's Ninox owl Angderr swoop in carrying a letter, and landed on Hadrian's plate, ignoring Theo's protests as his porridge just had some extra bird feathers added to it.

"Hey Angderr," Hadrian greeted. Angderr blinked at him with his yellow eyes, and Pansy stifled a giggle behind her hand. You wouldn't usually think that the dark lord would have a Ninox as his owl, but it was the most powerful owl breed which was handy when he had to send negotiation letters with other influential leaders across the world. But in all honesty, did look a bit funny…

"Pansy, don't laugh. He doesn't like it when people laugh at him," Hadrian warned. He took the letter that was attached to Angderr's leg and gave the large owl some ham. He hooted loudly and pecked towards Hadrian's left sleeve.

' _Hi Angderr! How's Nagini?'_ Sonoro hissed excitedly as she poked her head out. Angderr hooted once. ' _Really? Wow. Tell her she's got to teach me later'_ Angderr turned around, took a piece of Draco's omelette, to which Daphne snickered, and he took off with a powerful flap of his wings.

"I thought Sonoro didn't like your owl," Daphne said.

"She doesn't. Snabb and Sonoro have had a very long feud. However, she's best friends with Angderr for some reason…mainly because that owl is as evil as she is," He shuddered as he remembered that time Sonoro and Angderr had teamed up to get revenge on poor Rodolophus Lestrange for accidentally scaring away their prey. According to Sonoro, it was a rare creature native to Romania.

As Hadrian was opening his letter, it was suddenly snatched out of his hands by somebody behind him. He whirled around, his wand in his hand, ready to curse whoever it was. Beside him, Daphne's face took on an expression of disgust as she saw who it was.

"Potter, I would like my letter back. I'm not sure what purpose you would want it for, seeing as your literacy rate is non-existent. I'm sure Weasley's and Finnegan's isn't much better either," He drawled with, not looking away from his breakfast.

"Oh yeah? Well, I'm the Gryffindor Seeker," Callistus boasted and promptly opened Hadrian's letter. However, before Callistus had the chance to read it, it was taken from his hands by Theo, who had a stoic, cold look on his face.

"Thanks Potter, but we can all read perfectly fine. We don't need some stupid Gryffindor who can't do anything but play Quiddich to help us," Theo said in a quiet but deadly manner.

"You think so? I can do magic better than all of you here," Callistus said with a smirk.

"You really think so? If you're so tough, wizards duel tonight, midnight in the trophy room," Draco said with a sneer.

"Deal. Who's your second? Mine's Ron,"

Draco considered this and gave a slight smirk to Hadrian. "Hadrian,"

"Midnight tonight, Malfoy. That is, if you don't chicken out," Callistus tossed the letter back to Hadrian.

Once they had left, Blaise whined "Why Hadrian, Draco? You know Hadrian's already had a chance to hex Potter. The rest of us want a turn too,"

"Yeah, Draco," Pansy said with a pout.

"I'm sure you'll all get plenty of opportunities throughout this year. And besides, I'm not actually going to show up. Do you really think I'm stupid enough?" Draco asked with a raised platinum blonde eyebrow.

"Yes." Daphne deadpanned.

Ignoring her, Draco continued "We'll let Potter and his little cronies show up, and we let Filch know. If Potter ends up in detention, his reputation as a golden child who can't do anything wrong will be ruined," He smiled with a Slytherin-like smile.

"Or Dumbledore would just bail them out. 'I'm sure they were out here for a reason, weren't you, boys?'" Daphne mimicked Dumbledore's kind grandfatherly smile.

While his friends were busy talking about how they would let Filch know, Hadrian opened his letter, casting a silencing charm around himself before tapping the letter with his wand.

' _Finite Obscurosente, The kettle is blue'_ He whispered. That was the code phrase for de-activating the hiding charm they placed on their letters. Even if Potter did have a chance to read it, he wouldn't have seen anything but a typical letter from a father to his son.

 _Hadrian,_

 _I have heard from Quirinus that you are finding your lessons too simple, as predicted. Over the next couple of days, I shall send Angderr with fifth year curriculum, with some additional texts enclosed as well. If you require any assistance, I have contacted Larken Avery and asked if his daughter, Amy, could aid you. She is the Slytherin Fifth year Prefect._

 _Congratulations on getting into Slytherin. As tempting as it may seem, do try to resist the urge to curse Callistus Potter with some of the spells in the books I send._

 _I look forwards to hearing about your experiences this year at Christmas._

 _Your father,_

 _Tom_

"I'm not certain about you guys, but I don't feel like being late to Herbology," Theo called as he was already at the doors.

 _That evening, The Gryffindor tower, 12 PM…_

Callistus, Ron, Dean and Seamus all crept downstairs silently towards the Gryffindor common room. Callistus slowly opened up the portrait, making sure to be as silent as possible.

"You're not really going to go, now are you?" A bossy voice said from behind them. Ron jumped slightly. It was Hermione Granger.

"Go back to bed, Granger," Callistus said, annoyed. It was the bushy-haired muggleborn witch who was always waving her arm around in class.

"Honestly, don't you care about Gryffindor? You'll lose us all our points we've gotten this year! Then, we won't ever have a chance at winning the house cup," She snapped.

"We won't get caught, and besides, even if we did get caught, it wouldn't be a big deal. After all, they can't do much to me because I'm the boy who lived," Callistus said arrogantly. "Come on, let's go,"

Hermione watched in exasperation as the four left and the portrait swung shut. She sighed. After all the books she had read about the boy-who-lived, she didn't think that he would be so…big-headed. But it seems that even in the wizarding world, some would flaunt their status and expect VIP passes just because they were famous.

Hermione made up her mind. She hurried back up the staircase and knocked on a door with the word 'Male Prefects' on it.

"Oh, hello Hermione. Can I help you with anything?" Percy Weasley answered, fixing his prefect badge to the front of his pyjamas.

"Percy, I overheard Callistus and Malfoy talking this morning about a midnight duel tonight at the Trophy room. And Callistus, Ron, and and Dean just left," She blurted out. Percy blinked behind his horned-rimmed glasses.

"Callistus Potter, and Draco Malfoy?" He frowned. Hermione nodded rapidly.

"I shall go tell Professor McGonagall at once. I cannot imagine why Malfoy would challenge Potter to a duel…they are both first years, regardless of schooling before attending Hogwarts," He said strictly, then rushed off to the Head of House quarters.

Hermione sighed. There went their chance at winning the house cup…


	18. Chapter 17

**Chapter 17**

 **This story doesn't have a good plot…**

 _Last night, Riddle Manor…_

A loud crack could be heard as Severus Snape suddenly appeared outside of Riddle manor. He took a deep breath, re-enforced his Occlumency shields, clutching the small book he had found a few weeks ago at Lucius's manor which Lucius still had no idea was even missing, and stepped inside the wards. All he had to do was to survive the meeting and get back to Hogwarts with the book. Then, he could investigate the dark magic inside of it. He went inside the manor's large double-doors, and briskly walked to Voldemort's throne room. As he pushed open the doors, he saw that the majority of the inner-circle was already gathered there. Voldemort, in his 'dark lord' form, was sitting on the throne, Nagini next to him, a cold yet contemplative look on his face as he hissed inaudible things to her. This was not a normal meeting, this was a full war meeting. Snape's blood turned to ice. The last time one of these had taken place was during the war.

Once everybody had arrived, Voldemort got up from his throne and stood in front of them. Everybody knelt down.

"Rise," He said.

"You are all gathered here today to discuss a matter we have not addressed for many years. Nott, tell me, what was the purpose of the death eaters during the war?" He turned to Nott Sr, staring at him with blood-red eyes.

"To achieve blood-purity and rid the world of mud-bloods, half-bloods and blood-traitors, my lord," Nott answered.

"Yes, a decade ago, that was what we fought for. However, if we rid the world of mud-bloods and half-bloods, we would no longer have fresh blood-lines. Our power would decrease the more we bred with each other. Do we really emphasis blood-purity over our power?" Voldemort asked. He got a few, uncertainly murmured 'No, my lord's.

"Mud-bloods and half-bloods may be taking over wizarding Britain, but they are also useful to ensure that our blood-lines stay powerful, not weak and inbred. For this matter, we must tolerate them and their presence, do you not agree?" He looked over every single one of the death eaters, none of who seemed to object as they thought about this.

"My lord," Lucius spoke up smoothly. "Even if we accept mud-bloods and half-bloods, we still have the problem of Albus Dumbledore and his allies pushing for muggles to be allowed into the wizarding society,"

"Yes indeed, Lucius. Albus Dumbledore seems to think that the muggles will accept us. Those fools do not realize the true extent of the power of the muggles. Driven by fear, they could wreak havoc on the wizarding society," Voldemort sneered.

"The light works towards the so-called 'greater good', which, in their opinion is the best option. Sacrificing our privacy from muggles so we can all 'live and flourish together in harmony' is what they reckon is the best decision. Although a very small portion of muggles may accept us, the majority will not. They say that, for the 'greater good', dark magic must not be used to keep the peace and tranquillity. But we are not muggles, we are witches and wizards. We should not have to be restrained from using all of our abilities. Magic, regardless of how dark or light, is magic. And there should not be laws stopping us from using what every one of us were born with. There is no dark and light, when all magic is used to benefit somebody in this world," The death eaters all nodded enthusiastically.

Voldemort returned to his throne. "From this day on, the death eaters will no longer work for blood purity. We shall work towards keeping our secrecy from muggles and allowing magic, of all kinds, to be cast freely and at our will," He scanned the room of elite death eaters, all of who were nodding along with him. "Anybody who objects will be exiled from the death eaters," Some shivered very slightly at this thought. Getting exiled from the death eaters meant your death. And a very painful one, at that.

"You are all dismissed. Lie low for now, do not let anybody think that we are still active. Spread the word amongst the lower ranks. And if anybody dares to object, do not hesitate to remove them," Voldemort said. The death eaters all bowed again.

"My lord," They murmured, before leaving one by one.

"Severus," Voldemort called once everybody had left. Snape turned around from where he was just about to exit.

"I require you to brew a batch of Veritaserum by next Monday,"

Snape nodded. "Yes, my lord,'

"Make sure the Veritaserum is potent, not the weak, diluted kind that has the antidote you can drink beforehand. Now, go," Voldemort commanded.

"Very well, my lord," Snape murmured, then left.

' _Why do you need Veritaserum?'_ Nagini asked.

' _Inquisitions for the inner circle. Plus, I may just use some on that snivelling excuse of a wizard Pettigrew'_ Voldemort sneered at the thought of the rat. Even if he had defected from the light side, Voldemort still hated traitors.

' _On a different note, I don't know about you, but I for one am quite excited to hear about the ways that some death eaters might get exiled'_ Nagini hissed. He nodded in agreement.

' _I bet you that by the end of the week, Bellatrix will have the longest and most sadistical, Barty will have the highest number, and Macnair will have the most creative kill'_ Voldemort hissed. Nagini gave him the snake's equivalent of an eyebrow raise.

' _I think we all know the crazy witch will have the longest kill, and Barty will have the most, but Macnair have the most creative? That woman can't even woo a member of the opposite gender with Amortentia, which shows how good she is at setting up creative dates'_

Voldemort sighed. ' _For the last time, Nagini, Macnair is a man!'_ Nagini rolled her eyes.

' _Yeah, yeah, whatever'_ She hissed.

 _Riddle manor South Wing, same time…_

Snape's mind was racing as he walked along the halls, his face still etched in the same cold, emotionless expression under his death eater mask. He whipped his head around, his wand drawn, as he heard a loud crash nearby.

"Oh, hello," A sheepish Rabastan said as he opened a door, coming out of the storage room. Somehow, he was already changed out of his death eater robes.

"Rabastan. What are you doing?" Snape asked.

"Severus? Oh, hey, I was just looking for a spare two-way notebook for Hadrian," Rabastan closed the door.

Snape raised his eyebrow under his mask. "I'm positive that the library would be a much more likely be the place a book will be situated," He said. Rabastan's face fell.

"You're right, Severus…but I have to walk all the way over to the library now," He sighed. Snape suddenly had an idea.

"No need for that, Rabastan," He said smoothly, and pulled out the book he had taken from Malfoy Manor. He handed it to Rabastan, who observed it curiously. "Take this. It's a two-way notebook I found in Knockturn last week. The twin notebook can be charmed to link to it with the binding spell,"

"Thanks Severus! You just saved me a walk to the other side of the manor," Rabastan smiled. "But wait, don't you need this? Are you sure you'd like to give it to me?"

Snape nodded. "If I wasn't, then why would I give it to you? It was for sharing notes between myself and a Potions Master in Chili, but it is not needed right now," He lied. Rabastan nodded.

"Well, thanks again!" Rabastan flipped through the notebook, closing it when he saw nothing unusual about it. "I'll get going now," He opened the door again to the storage room, and as Snape was walking away, he heard Rabastan's triumphant 'Aha!'. He smirked to himself under the mask. His plan was underway. He mentally thanked Lucius for showing him one of their new-found heirlooms that was added to their vast collection in the safe-keeping room of Malfoy manor. Without that, Snape could have never gotten access to the mysterious notebook that reeked of dark magic stored in there with countless ornate mirrors, jewellery and wands.

Snape's smirk turned malicious as he entered the all-familiar brewery, where Hadrian took potions lessons before attending Hogwarts. This would be the first way that he could get back at the dark lord. By giving a dangerous, locked away, dark artefact from Malfoy manor to his son. Now, he really did have to get a start on the Veritaserum.

 _The next morning, Great Hall, Hogwarts…_

"Guys, look at Potter and his friends'," Draco snickered as they entered the great hall the next morning.

"Hey Potter! Didn't see you last night! What's the matter, chickened out?" Draco mocked as Callistus, Ron, Dean and Seamus walked past them. Callistus shot Draco an irritated look.

"Shut it, Malfoy," Ron snapped.

"Oo, scary. What happened to all the tough talk about you being better than all of us at magic?" Pansy sneered.

"I am better than all of you at magic! You guys were probably scared and told the prefects to get out of it," Callistus shot back.

"The prefects?" Draco looked at his friends, then laughed. "You guys got caught by the prefects? Is that why you couldn't make it? Figured, Potter. Only you and your little cronies could do that," Ron leapt at Draco, but Callistus held him back.

"It's okay, Ron. We all know that he's just jealous of how much everybody likes us and set us up to get revenge on us," Callistus said.

Daphne sighed and turned around in her chair, raising an eyebrow. "As funny as this display of stupidity has been for all of us, I think we're all starting to lose brain cells. If you could please go back to Gryffindor and shut that trash can you call a mouth, that would be greatly appreciated," She snarked.

"You're just jealous that I'm the boy-who-lived and that I'm famous," Callistus said with a smirk. "And I've been learning magic for a lot longer than you guys, if anybody is bad at classes, it's you guys,"

Theo rolled his eyes. "Man, I wish Hadrian was here right now to see Potter embarrass himself," He whispered to Pansy, who nodded in agreement.

"What is going on here?" Professor McGonagall's strict voice said.

"They called me stupid, Professor!" Callistus cried, trying to play the victim. She raised an eyebrow at the Slytherins.

"Is this true, Mister Yates?" She turned to a Third-year Slytherin boy who was eating his breakfast. Yates shrugged.

"I heard Greengrass tell Potter to go back to Gryffindor, but that was it," He said, then turned back to his breakfast.

"Go back to your table, Misters Potter, Weasley, Finnegan and Thomas," Professor McGonagall said firmly.

"But-" Seamus began, but she cut him off.

"Now, Mister Finnegan. And, Mister Potter, I expect to hear that you have been training hard from Mister Wood," After the Gryffindors had left, she turned to the Slytherins.

"I do not want to have to hear again that you have been calling other students names, Miss Greengrass," She raised her eyebrow before leaving. Daphne nodded, a little miffed. It was at that moment that Hadrian joined them with Sonoro.

"Hey guys. Sorry, we had to hide in some broom cupboard from Filch again. Did we miss anything?" He asked curiously, looking at their triumphant faces. They quickly filled him in on the exchange with Potter.

"Man, you just missed it. It was so funny," Blaise complained as Hadrian sat down. He shrugged.

"It's alright. I suppose there will be plenty more opportunities this year to see Potter and his gang embarrass themselves,"

As the owls swooped in to the great hall, Hadrian spotted Angderr coming in with a small parcel carried in his claws. He landed on their table, and as Hadrian untied the parcel and opened it to find what appeared to be some clothes. A quite finite revealed that it was actually the Fifth-year Charms and Transfiguration textbooks, plus two notebooks he assumed were from Barty and Rabastan with extra tips and spells. He put the parcel into his bag.

"Thanks, Angderr," He said, feeding the owl a piece of his toast. Angderr hooted, ate the toast up and flew out.

Across the hall, Hadrian heard the loud gasps and 'Woah!'s from the Gryffindor table as four owls flapped into the hall, carrying a large package.

"Oh my gosh…"

"…Broom…congratulations…!"

"Is…Nimbus…Lucky!"

The excited chattering made absolutely no sense, but all of a sudden, everything suddenly clicked when Ron Weasley loudly exclaimed "Is that your broom, Callistus? Wicked!"

Sure enough, as Hadrian peered over the crowd of eager Gryffindors, he could see Callistus holding a flash-looking broomstick in his hand, with a large golden C.P engraved on the side. He was smiling happily. Aside from the broomstick, there was also a large basket of what appeared to be filled to the brim with sweets and a white letter.

"Potter's got his custom broomstick, a bucket of diabetes, and a letter, probably from his loving parents," Hadrian told the others, being the only one who could see the commotion from where they were sitting.

Pansy rolled her eyes. "The three things most important to Potter must be his family, fame, and sugar,"

"And Quiddich," Blaise added. Pansy frowned.

"No, that would tie with sugar for third,"

A Slytherin girl in fourth-year suddenly turned around from her seat to Pansy's left and tapped her on the shoulder.

"Hey, Parkison?" She asked. Pansy nodded curiously.

"You might want to hear this," She beckoned for Pansy to come over, and whispered something in her ear. Pansy's eyes lit up, and an evil smile slowly spread over her face.

"Thanks, I owe you one, Moore," She said. Moore too had a smile on her face that matched Pansy's.

"No problem, Parkison. If anybody can spread rumours quickly, it's you. Call me Helen, by the way," She smiled slightly, before turning back to her friends.

"What was that about?" Theo asked.

"Well, I've got some great news for you guys. You know when Potter and Weasley screwed up their potion and ended up in the hospital wing?"

"Pansy, I don't think anybody can forget that incident. It was hilarious," Draco interjected. Pansy shot him a look for interrupting her.

"Yeah yeah, well my point is, that girl Helen Moore said that on the same day, in the afternoon, her friend Clary was in the infirmary because she broke her finger, and she overheard Madam Pomfrey checking Callistus's health, like his height, weight, things like that. And apparently, she heard Madam Pomfrey say that Callistus was 55 Kgs, waaaay too heavy for his height and age," She said, a smirk on her face. Daphne's eyes widened momentarily, before she managed to control her emotions and assume her blank mask again.

"55 Kgs…Merlin…Draco, you're 40 Kgs, and you're a lot taller than Potter," Blaise said incredulously. Pansy's evil smirk was still on her face.

"I know. Can you imagine what this will do when people hear of this? That the boy-who-lived is borderline obese?" She said in glee. **(I'm not sure if 55kgs is obese or not, but I'm going off the ideas that Callistus is 1.59 M tall, and Draco is 1.65 M.)**

Hadrian shook his head. "Pansy, sometimes, when you get gossip, you remind me of Sonoro…"

Pansy took on a thoughtful expression. "Maybe I'll get Sonoro to help me come up with ideas to make this rumour even more humiliating for Potter…"

Daphne cleared her throat. "As interesting as all this talk of gossip has been, we need to go to classes," Her tone made it obvious she didn't find it interesting.

 _That evening, Slytherin dorms…_

After finishing all his first-year homework, which didn't take very long, Hadrian pulled out the books his father had sent him.

They were the average fifth-year curriculum, and as Hadrian leafed through them, he found approximately where he was up to. Drawing the curtains around his bed, just in case anybody but his friends came in, he started to read up on the substansive spell. However, when he finished the chapter and opened the notebook from Rabastan, a leather-bound notebook, he found it empty.

"Did Rabastan send the wrong notebook…?" Hadrian mused as he looked it over. Suddenly, it came to him. Rabastan didn't have a wizarding degree in charms for nothing.

Grabbing a quill, he lifted it to the page, hesitating, before writing down _Hello, Rabastan, are you there?_

He waited a few moments, before words started to write themselves onto the page, the ink appearing magically. _Rabastan? I am not Rabastan, I am Tom Riddle._

Hadrian's eyes widened. Tom Riddle? His father?

 _Father? Is that you?_ He wrote. This time, it took quite a long time for the writer to respond, almost like they were hesitant and confused.

 _Father? I am no father. My name is Tom Riddle, and I certainly have no child._ They wrote.

Now Hadrian was really confused. Tom Riddle was obviously his father's name, unless it was his grandfather, but that would be impossible, because the writer said they had no children.

 _Do you know a man named Rabastan Lestrange?_

 _I know no Rabastan, but I do know a Lestrange. Rufus Lestrange._

"Rufus Lestrange?" Hadrian said aloud. Rufus Lestrange was Bellatrix's father. He frowned. His father would have gone to Hogwarts around the time with Rufus Lestrange, even though he always looked 30. It was obvious that the writer was his father, or a form of his father's knowledge from his youth. Perhaps it was like a portrait? The person's memory and personality was stored, but they were not actually there? But why would his father make a copy of himself in a notebook? And how in Merlin's name did it end up with Rabastan of all people?

Hadrian decided to shut the notebook and placed it securely in his trunk. He couldn't quite place his finger on it, but it seemed very…sinister. He would have to ask his father about this. He'd also have to get Rabastan to send an actual two-way notebook, or a notebook of tips. The one Barty sent him was filled with pages and pages of his lop-sided, handwritten notes.

 _Meanwhile, the Gryffindor tower…_

Callistus Potter stormed through the portrait hole, fuming with anger. On top of his nightly detentions with Snape, now he had detention for an extra two weeks after it was supposed to end, and if that wasn't enough, the four of them had lost Gryffindor 100 points. That know-it-all Granger had snitched on him.

"You!" Callistus yelled as he went up to Hermione, who was busy doing her Charms homework in a corner of the Gryffindor common room. She glanced up, annoyed at being interrupted.

"Callistus, can't you see I'm trying to do my homework? I've got so much of it, I couldn't possibly afford to be distracted now," She fussed.

"You made Gryffindor lose points! You told on us!"

"You're not allowed to be out past curfew, Callistus. It's against the rules, I had to tell somebody," Hermione answered strictly.

He fumed for a moment, then sent Hermione a glare and snarled "It's almost as if you don't want Gryffindor to win, Granger," before he turned around and stormed back up the stairs in anger.

Hermione sighed. The other people in the common room who were watching the commotion also glared at her or gave her miffed looks before returning to what they were doing before. Why did everybody seem to hate her? She was only trying to follow the rules and do her best…


	19. Chapter 18

**Chapter 18**

"Narcissa," Lucius called, walking into the Malfoy Manor spa room. Over in the hot tub, sipping on her drink, Narcissa raised an eyebrow at her husband.

"Lucius. Is something the matter?"

"The diary. Snape took it,"

Narcissa sighed, putting down her drink. "Should we tell Tom?"

Lucius shook his head. "I got an Owl from Rabastan last night. He needed a two-way diary for Hadrian, and Snape gave him the diary," He sneered. "Snape's honestly losing his touch if he didn't think that Rabastan of all people would't recognize the diary as a dark artefact. Rabastan informed Tom immediately, and Tom told him to send it to Hadrian to see what Snape's intentions were with it. Hadrian is not stupid. He won't write in it once he realizes the writer isn't Rabastan,"

"Right…" Narcissa trailed off. "Is Tom angry?"

Lucius shook his head. "Angry, no. Interested in seeing how this goes? Yes. Rabastan said that Tom has already ordered Quirrel to tell Hadrian about the diary because he can't send a letter in case Snape suspects we know,"

Narcissa nodded, slightly worried. "It's good he isn't angry at us. Hadrian is smart. He wouldn't write in it…the diary has such a dark aura. Who knows what would happen to him and those around him if it managed to affect him, especially with Hadrian's cunning and skills,"

"From what I can remember, the diary is a sort of holder for Tom's younger self. It's quite like a portrait, in fact. It's able to take hold of the correspondent's conscience the more they write to it. Hadrian definitely wouldn't put much of his emotions and thoughts into the diary, that's for sure," Lucius said.

"That's a relief,"

 _The next morning, great hall…_

A standard Hogwarts owl landed on the Slytherin table in front of Theo, who looked up at it curiously when it offered the letter tied to its foot, tentatively took it and opened it up. The owl took off again, a swoop of its wings propelling it upwards and back to the Owlery.

"Who's it from?" Blaise asked, leaning over his friend's shoulder. Theo didn't respond, just wordlessly handed it over to Hadrian two seats down the table.

"It's for you," He explained at Hadrian's confused expression.

"Okay…" He took the letter and started to read it.

 _Theodore, this letter is for Hadrian, but it was addressed to you in order not to arouse unwanted attention. My sincere apologies for any misconceptions. Please give this letter to Hadrian immediately._

 _Hadrian. Please come to my office tonight, at Seven PM. There is something I must inform you about._

 _PS: If you haven't already, please do not use the book from R.A.B and bring it along tonight. There has been a mistake in its ownership._

 _Professor. Q_

' _It's from Professor Quirrel. It's about the book from Rabastan'_ Hadrian hissed to Sonoro.

' _The one that has your father writing in it?'_ She asked.

' _What seems to be a young version of my father when he was at Hogwarts, yes'_

"It's from Professor Quirrel. He says to come to his office tonight," He told Draco, who was surreptitiously trying to read it over his shoulder. Draco sniffed haughtily at being caught trying to peek.

"I thought so," He replied snobbily, looking away. Down the table, Daphne smirked at him.

"Some Slytherin you are," She teased.

He shot her a withering glare. "Shut up, Daphne,"

While his friends were busy having a roast battle with each other, for the second time that week, he pointed his wand at the letter under the table, checked that nobody was watching, and quickly lit the letter on fire with a silent _Incendio._ He watched in satisfaction as the letter was slowly consumed by the flames, reducing it to a pile of ash on the floor of the great hall. He waved his wand again and vanished it, leaving no trace that the letter had ever existed.

 _That night, Six Thirty Pm…_

Hadrian opened up his trunk and carefully took out some of his clothing before he picked up the small book that Rabastan had sent him. He quickly flicked his wrist and cast a dilusion spell on the notebook with his wand. He frowned in confusion when nothing happened and the book remained on the dorm floor, as visible as ever.

He tried again, and when nothing happened, he tried a notice-me-not. It didn't work either. So didn't a number of other hiding charms that he tried.

"It might have some protections on it that prevent it from being charmed," He shrugged. He decided to just put it into his bottomless bag and left the dorm.

' _It's got to be around here somewhere…'_ Hadrian hissed to Sonoro, a few minutes later. He squinted at the map in the dim lighting of the wall torches.

The DADA classrooms were right in front of him, meaning the Defense teacher's office must be close by. As he was growing increasingly confused, a door opened behind him, startling Hadrian a bit, who just managed to hold in his flinch and keep his neutral face on.

"Good evening, Hadrian," Professor Quirrel greeted, standing in the doorway. He had taken off his usual purple turban. "Come in. I assume you bought the book?"

"Good evening, Professor. Yes, I did," Quirrel nodded, and beckoned Hadrian inside of his office, closing the door and locking it with numerous anti-eavesdropping charm.

The office had a high, spacious ceiling, with bookshelves filled with books running from the wooden floor all the way to what Hadrian assumed was the second level, and the Professor's sleeping quarters. A wooden desk with lit lamps and pieces of writing equipment strewn across it sat in the middle of the office, with stairs leading up to a spherical object levitating off the floor on either side of it.

Quirrel sat behind the desk and moved a piece of parchment to the side. Hadrian took the book out of the bag and placed it on the desk.

"Your father has told me to inform you about the fact that Rabastan Lestrange has sent you the wrong book. This is not just a diary, but also a dark artefact. Your father has requested for me to retrieve it from you," He looked up at Hadrian curiously. "Have you written in it yet, Hadrian?"

Hadrian nodded. "Somebody named Tom Riddle claimed to be writing back to me,"

"As you may know, Hadrian, Severus Snape is a traitor to both the death eaters and the Order. He is only looking out for his own skin. Lucius reported that a few weeks ago, he had shown Severus a priceless Malfoy heirloom in their safe room. He left Snape alone, who must have taken the diary from the room which was being held with the heirloom. He coincidentally came across Rabastan a few nights ago after a meeting, who needed a two-way book to send to you. He gave the book to Rabastan, thinking that he would in turn send it to you. Rabastan was able to immediately identify it as a dark artefact, and alerted your father, who decided to send it to you anyways to see what Snape's true intentions were. Sending an owl informing you would have been too risky, in case it was intercepted," He said, opening the first page of the diary and seeing the blank, fresh pages of parchment, the conversation with Hadrian having been erased.

"If it was originally from Malfoy manor, then why did the writer in the diary seem to be a young version of my father?" Hadrian asked.

Quirrel sighed and closed the diary. "The diary originally belongs to your father, but the Malfoy's had been entrusted with it. Indeed, there is a young version of himself writing in it," He paused thoughtfully. "Think of it as almost a part of your father's personality in the diary. The rest of the matter, I do not know if your father wants me to tell you. He will inform you himself when he sees fit," Quirrel looked up at Hadrian.

"May I…" He asked, holding up a quill. Hadrian nodded.

Quirrel opened the diary to the first page and started to write a sentence in it.

 _Who are you?_

They waited for a few seconds, before ink started to stain the diary's page.

 _I told you, my name is Tom Riddle._

 _Oh yes, sorry Tom._

 _What is your name?_

Here, Quirrel paused.

"Callistus. Tell him your name is Callistus," Hadrian offered. He raised an eyebrow, but wrote it down, nonetheless.

 _My name is Callistus Potter._

 _Potter? Related to Fleamont Potter by any chance?_

"Do we say yes?" Quirrel asked unsurely.

Hadrian nodded. "Yes. Fleamont Potter was Callistus Potter's grandfather. Should have been at Hogwarts around the time of my father,"

 _Yea, he's my grandfather. Do you know him, Tom?_

 _I was at Hogwarts at the same time as him. Four years younger than me, if I recall._

Quirrel shut the diary. "I think we both have seen enough of this diary. Wait here, Hadrian," He went up the stairs with the diary, the clunking of his footsteps gradually fading on the wooden floor.

Hadrian sighed. From the sleeve of his robe, Sonoro peeked her head out.

' _I wonder why your father created a version of himself in a diary'_

' _Me too, Sonoro. I guess we'll have to find out at Christmas'_ He paused. ' _Do you think he's angry at the Malfoy's?'_

Sonoro blinked. ' _I don't know, Snakeling. It was partially their fault, yes, for letting the diary get stolen. But seeing as ferret boy hasn't gotten any news yet from his parents, I don't think so'_

Quirrel returned, this time with a different set of books. "Thank you for bringing this tonight, Hadrian. I will return this to your father as soon as possible," He set the books down on the table. "This is the actual two-way notebook from Rabastan. This is the defence book from Bellatrix, and this is the dark arts book," His mouth twisted into a wry smile. "She sent both a notebook and a two-way as well. Never thought Bellatrix would be one to write essays," He said, flicking through the notebook filled with Bellatrix's surprisingly neat notes. Of course, the tidy, cursive writing didn't do anything to hide the fact that they were writing spells that could make somebody's life miserable in a flick of the wrist and a few small words.

"I will inform you about your father's decision about the situation with the diary and Professor Snape. In the meantime, Professor Snape will think that you have the diary. Do not let him think otherwise, until your father has come to a decision about what to do with the diary and Professor Snape," Quirrel said.

Hadrian nodded. "Thank you, Professor," Putting the new books into his bag, he left the office, walking back to the Slytherin dorms in silence, as Sonoro had fallen asleep again.

 _A few days later, Professor Dumbledore's office…_

"Mister Longbottom, Miss Granger, do come in. I'm afraid it is getting rather chilly out there now, no?" Dumbledore welcomed the two shivering students into his office with a beaming smile on his face. Neville let out an audible sigh of relief as he stepped inside, glad that he could escape the evil-looking gargoyle outside, which he swore had moved a few minutes ago when he wasn't looking.

"Now, Mister Longbottom, I assume you're feeling better after your unfortunate accident?" Neville nodded nervously. "Yes, an old man's apologies for what happened, my boy. I'm afraid that it is my fault for not looking into those brooms earlier, I must say. Old age is addling my brain, I'm afraid," He smiled at them genially.

"Professor," Neville spoke up quietly. "Is it possible for me to be re-sorted?"

Dumbledore sat back in his chair, regarding the pair with a thoughtful expression. "Ah yes, now, continuing on to before the night interrupted us, is there a reason you want to be resorted?"

"Well…I don't really think that Gryffindor is right for me…and I, uhh…" He stuttered.

"Neville thinks that he was put into the wrong house, and that the only reason he wanted to be put into Gryffindor was to please his grandmother," Hermione finished for him. Dumbledore nodded, deep in thought. Neville shot her a grateful look.

"Is that the reason, Mister Longbottom?" He asked. Neville nodded. So they were leaving out the second reason that he couldn't glimpse from his mind. He frowned internally in frustrated because he couldn't use legilimency on Neville, because he would have to retreat as soon as they started talking again in order not to arouse suspicion.

"I'm afraid that the reason you give can't allow you to be resorted, Mister Longbottom. As much as I would like to allow you to, the Hogwarts board staff have made it clear that nothing other than dire misconceptions will allow a student to be resorted again," He gave them his best look of disappointment and regret.

Neville's face dropped.

"Please, professor, Neville only wanted to be sorted into Gryffindor because he wanted to follow in his parents' footsteps and make his grandmother happy, and convinced the sorting hat to place him in Gryffindor,"

"You convinced the sorting hat?" Dumbledore asked Neville curiously. He nodded nervously.

"The sorting hat wanted to put me in Hufflepuff, but I convinced it to put me in Gryffindor,"

"I can't say I have ever heard of a student telling the sorting hat to put them in a different house and it working," Dumbledore said.

"It's true, Albus," The sorting hat said from its place on the shelf. Neville and Hermione jumped. "He did, indeed, convince me to put him in Gryffindor. A decision I told him he would regret," The hat raised its non-existent eyebrow at Neville.

Dumbledore ignored the sorting hat, but it continued on. "I think that, as you said, Albus, somebody convincing me to put them into the wrong house for them is quite unusual, indeed. This lad here managed to do it. And look where he is now," The hat's mouth closed in irritation as it peered down at them.

Dumbledore could feel a sense of dread coursing through him. Managing to convince an ancient artefact to place you in the incorect house just to appease your relatives and be with your friends was a very loyal thing to do. It required loyalty, a trait that was very prevalent amongst Hufflepuffs. In fact, when Dumbledore had first met the boy, he was sure that he would have been a Hufflepuff, judging by how timid and shy, yet loyal and dedicated to those around him. He had been surprised, but pleased, when the boy had became a Gryffindor.

"Yes, even if Mister Longbottom was able to convince you, I'm afraid that this still doesn't qualify as urgent enough for a re-sorting," Dumbledore said. A genius idea came to him. "Unless, of course, your legal guardian or parent gives consent for you to be re-sorted, I'm afraid there's nothing I can do here,"

Neville sighed. Sensing that nothing else could be done here, Hermione stood up.

"Thank you for your time, Professor Dumbledore," She said abruptly. Neville stood up as well, a little startled by her tone, especially towards the headmaster.

"You are very much welcome, my dear," Dumbledore smiled at them with a twinkle in his eye, resuming the role of a kind grandfather.

Hermione walked briskly towards the exit, with Neville mumbling a soft 'thank you, bye professor' as they left. As the door closed behind them, Dumbledore smiled in satisfaction. There was no way that the Augusta would give permission for her son to be re-sorted away from the Potter's and Weasley's. And he doubted that the boy would bring up the whole entire Hogwarts Rule Book, just to see the rules on re-sorting. He was much too stupid to do that.

 _But that Granger girl isn't._ A small voice whispered in his head. Dumbledore dismissed it. She was too much of a teacher's pet to find fault in one. Yes, for now, Neville was right where Dumbledore wanted him to be.

 **Hello everybody, sorry for how long this chapter took. I had a bit of a writer's block, and I took a two-week break over my school holidays from writing. Anyways, I hope you all enjoyed!**


	20. Chapter 19

**Chapter 19**

Voldemort held the small leather-bound book in his hand, a thoughtful expression on his face. Beside him, Nagini slithered over to see what he was holding.

' _What's that?'_ She hissed, stopping beside him.

' _My old diary. It's one of them'_

She gave him a curious look. _'I thought you destroyed them all after your resurrection'_

He shook his head. ' _Not all. I destroyed most of them to regain my sanity, but I'd completely forgotten about the one Lucius had'_ He sneered at his own stupidity.

Nagini peered over to get a closer look at the diary. ' _That was pretty dumb. What are you going to do with it now?'_

He leaned back in the emerald green armchair and sighed, closing his eyes. When they opened, he cast his blood-red gaze over his private chambers.

' _Snape thinks that Hadrian still has the diary. He thought that having Rabastan give Hadrian the diary, Hadrian would confide in it. Is he that much of an imbecile? Siding with the Order all these years must have addled his brain'_ He sneered. Snape was always a cunning man. The fact that he thought that Rabastan, of all people, wouldn't recognize the diary as a horcrux was just pure stupid.

Snape obviously had a reason to give Hadrian the diary. Voldemort knew what the diary could do. He'd created it, after all. Although Snape himself may not have exactly known the full extent of what the diary was capable of, he did know that it was dangerous to whoever would write in it. It wasn't possible that Dumbledore would have ordered Snape to give it to Hadrian. As far as Dumbledore was aware, Voldemort and Hadrian were all dead.

Hiding from the rest of the Wizarding world was rather frustrating for his followers, Bellatrix in particular. The semi-insane witch was crazy for battle and bloodlust. But they had to wait, to bid their time, until Hadrian was older. They would launch their attack then. In the meantime, however, Snape was practically harmless to the death eater cause. Telling Dumbledore that, in fact, Voldemort was still alive wouldn't put him into a good position. That is, if Dumbledore even believed him.

That meant that Snape probably made the decision to give Hadrian the diary by himself.

Voldemort's lip curled in disgust. He'd always despised traitors, regardless of their side.

Despite of Snape's decrease of brain cells, he was still a threat to Hadrian while he was anywhere near him. Snape probably thought that the diary would have turned Hadrian against everybody, and ultimately, made him destroy himself. He wasn't wrong on what the diary could have done.

Hadrian was smart enough to have stopped writing in it as soon as he saw that it wasn't Rabastan responding, but Snape didn't know that. Voldemort didn't want to dispose of him quite yet. He could be an asset in the future.

Voldemort's eyes slid back to the diary he was still holding. He flicked his wrist, unsheathing his blackthorn wand. Twirling it around in his hand idly, he came to the decision on what to do.

He placed his hand on the diary, lifting the protective enchantments on it. The diary glowed a faint black, before returning back to normal. He effortlessly duplicated the diary and all the properties, including Tom Riddle, with an almost lazy flick of the wrist. Placing his hand back onto the original diary, he reset the protective spells on it.

He was curious as to what Snape would do if Hadrian possessed the diary long enough. Would he try get Hadrian killed through whispering in Dumbledore's ear? Would he vanish without a trace? Or yet, what would he do if Dumbledore found himself in possession of the diary? He stopped that train of thought before it could get further, shaking his head. Now wasn't the right time.

Maybe he'd let Hadrian choose what to do with the diary and Snape eventually. He deserved some fun after having to pretend to be under the diary's curse. His son was also more creative than he was…to Voldemort's complete and utter dismay. Voldemort liked to think that he was more creative, but the unanimous decision from his inner circle said otherwise, unfortunately.

Nagini eyed the diaries. ' _What's the second one for?'_

' _It's going to be sent to Hadrian. He'll pretend to be under the fake diaries' influence and use it to trick Snape. Obviously, Snape had a motive to plant the diary in Hadrian's hands, and I'm quite curious to see what he would do if unexplained events and tragedies happened while he thinks Hadrian is behind it'_

She thought for a minute. ' _Are you planning on getting him to murder somebody?'_ She did the Snake's equivalent of an eyebrow raise. ' _Isn't this a little too early? For both him and the plan?'_

Voldemort shook his head. ' _Not homicide; Not yet. I reckon…The younger me was very against children and showing any type of compassion towards anything. I considered it a weakness. If he heard how I have a child now, he would probably try to get that child killed'_

' _Hmm…And maybe, if Snape somehow gets a hold of the diary, he'll start writing in it if Hadrian can disguise it, and eventually Snape would destroy it to prevent himself from being influenced by it so Hadrian wouldn't have to worry about that anymore'_ Nagini hissed.

' _The diary isn't like the original. It can be charmed for words to appear on it, but other that, it's a mundane muggle diary'_

Nagini slammed her head into the armchair in disbelief and frustration. ' _For the leader of the most formidable force against the rest of the wizarding society, you really are an idiot'_ She hissed, shaking her head at him. ' _You can put another charm onto the diary; this one to specifically bewitch the first person to properly write in it. If the diary looks like something Hadrian would use as his to-do list or to communicate with you, Snape would write in it so you would think that Hadrian was writing to you, when in reality, it was Snape with Hadrian's notebook. Snape will realize that it's obviously Tom Riddle, and figure that Hadrian placed a glamour on the book to change its appearance. He'll either leave it alone, destroy it or give it back to Hadrian. If he destroys it, problem solved. If he gives it back to Hadrian, Hadrian won't trust it because Snape was in possession of it and could have tampered with it and it will give him a reason to destroy it'_

Voldemort grumbled something unsavoury under his breath, which Nagini chose to ignore with a snakish smirk on her face. He took a deep breath, then turned back to her.

' _That's…a surprisingly good idea'_ He finally said. The smirk remained on Nagini's face.

' _It's something that comes with being a genius'_

' _Oh zip it, won't you?'_ Voldemort sighed in exasperation. ' _It probably won't even work, Nagini'_ Nagini continued to give him a smug look, knowing full well that it was the best plan they'd had so far. He turned away from Nagini and held his wand in his hand, thinking about what sort of a two-way communication book between him and Hadrian would look like.

' _Small, inconspicuous, and very plain'_ Nagini offered helpfully, sensing his dilemma. He shrugged.

' _I would have gotten it eventually'_ He defended. She did the snake equivalent of an eyebrow raise.

' _I'm sure you would have'_

He levelled his wand at the fake diary, and transfigured it, watching as the neatly bound black leather changed to a normal dark brown, the golden 'Tom Marvolo Riddle' engraved onto the front vanishing, with smooth brown leather in its place. A large leather strap and a metal clasp appeared on the side of it, perfectly symmetrical. The fake diary now resembled an ordinary muggle notebook. He opened the book, and instead of the old, soft yellow pages of the diary, there were crisp, white pages with neatly inked on lines and rows on the first page. Wordlessly summoning a quill from his desk, he wrote the words 'classes starting soon', then the word 'alright' underneath it in green ink with his left hand. To finish, he erased a part of the word 'classes' and the top part of 'alright' to make it look like Hadrian had been careless with erasing the conversation. This way, Snape wouldn't be able to tell whenever it was Tom Riddle or Voldemort that Hadrian was writing to.

' _Oo, interesting'_ Nagini hissed as he put the quill away.

' _I'll send it to Hadrian in a package with a letter. I don't want to bother Quirinus again to be the messenger'_

' _That man doesn't have anything better to do, though. What does he even do in his spare time?'_

Voldemort shrugged, and transfigured the quill into a cardboard box. He looked around, summoned a pure silver mini replica of a Basilisk from his desk along with a piece of parchment and an envelope and transfiguring it into a silver seal. Years of business affairs with foreign countries for the exotic creatures bred and raised on Riddle Manor, selling new creations and spells and the occasional generous donation from a death eater had made Voldemort quite wealthy. Aside from being an evil leader, Voldemort was still an innovative genius, after all.

Quickly drafting a letter and casting half a dozen protective charms on it, he placed it into the box with the two-way notebook. Another layer of spells later, he sealed the box and closed his eyes in concentration.

Angderr swooped into his room and landed on the coffee table in front of Voldemort and Nagini. He blinked his yellow eyes at them, and hooted.

' _Hello Angderr'_ Nagini hissed. He hooted in return, and turned to Voldemort, who opened his blood-red eyes.

"Angderr, apologies if I disturbed your hunting again, but this is rather urgent," He said. Angderr blinked. "Take this to Hadrian. Don't let anybody take it," He didn't need to add the last part, though. Angderr had a fearsome reputation of mauling anybody who tried to take a letter he was delivering. Voldemort tied the letter to Angderr's leg, and as soon as he was finished, the owl grasped the package in his claws and took off with a powerful swoop of his wings through the window, back into the night.

' _Are you sure about this?'_ Nagini asked. Voldemort sighed.

' _I guess we'll have to see'_ He waved his hand and the window, magically closing and drawing the green and silver velvet curtains over it.

 _The next morning, Great Hall…_

The great hall was abuzz with activity, with students chattering loudly, excited for the weekend's activities. A wide array of muggle and wizarding clothing was seen around the entire hall. Blaise was dressed in a simple black leather jacket and a pair of blue denim jeans his mother had bought him from her trip to muggle France earlier in the year. Surprisingly, Daphne was the only other one who was in muggle clothing. Dressed rather similarly to Blaise, she was wearing a grey activewear hoodie and black denim jeans. Hadrian, Theo, Draco and Pansy were all in casual robes with their standard clothing underneath.

Blaise yawned, reaching forwards lazily to pour himself some pumpkin juice, still half-asleep. He rubbed his eyes tiredly, having stayed up late to finish some of his homework. He helped himself to a generous serving of scrambled eggs and grabbed a few pieces of toast and started to butter them, before taking a whole stack of pancakes and started to slather those in butter too, in his rather delirious morning state of mind.

"DEAR MERLIN!" He yelped, dropping and butter knife onto his plate with a loud clang. A large Ninox owl was standing in the middle of the Slytherin table, looking quite smug with itself, a letter tied around it's claws. A cardboard box had knocked over a bottle of Raspberry jam, which was now spilling its contents onto the tablecloth.

Two seats down on his left, he heard an exasperated sigh. "For the last time, Angderr, what did I tell you about landing on the food?!". He could also hear Draco's not-so-subtle snickers.

"Hadrian, tell your owl to get it's foot out of my bacon," A calm voice from opposite him said. He looked up, and sure enough, Angderr's claw without the letter attached to it was in Daphne's plate, standing on her bacon. Next to her, Theo snickered from behind his book. Angderr, unruffled from the glares that seemed to be coming from the students around him, walked down the table to where Hadrian was facepalming internally. He sighed and rubbed his forehead.

' _Angderr! How are you?'_ Sonoro hissed, poking her head out of Hadrian's sleeve, unbothered by the stares she was getting from half of Slytherin house. Hadrian slammed his head onto the table in embarrassment, wishing that he could cast a notice-me-not on himself without anybody seeing. Angderr hooted loudly, ruffling his feathers, the package laying discarded in a puddle of strawberry jam. Hadrian groaned. Honestly, these two were going to drive him up the wall.

"So," Daphne began once Angderr had left, and the school went back to their usual activities. "What was that about?"

Hadrian shrugged, wiping the box with a napkin gingerly, a disgusted grimace on his face as strawberry jam mixed with bacon grease started to trickle down his hand. "I don't know why I'm surprised, though. This happens every other time. We haven't been able to train him not to land on the food," Tossing the ruined napkin aside, and cleaning the gross mixture off his hand, he picked up the letter, stowing it into his bag along with the partially cleaned box. He rose from the table.

"I'll be back at the dorms," He told his friends, before leaving the great hall. On his way back to Slytherin, he spotted numerous students chatting with each other happily as they passed him, dressed in colourful muggle clothing. It was a Saturday, and many had plans of hanging out with friends, exploring the castle or just simply going back to dorms for more sleep. A large group of fourth years stood in a courtyard dressed in t-shirts and shorts with small packs that jingled with the metallic clinking of coins whenever they moved. They were waiting to go to Hogsmeade.

He entered his dorm, and put Sonoro down onto her rock, before he cut open the box with a diffindo. He didn't want to touch strawberry jam mixed with grease ever again in his life. Ever. Inside the box was a small, worn leather notebook. When he opened it, he found yellowing, frayed pages. He raised an eyebrow in confusion when he saw conversations that looked like they were from him and his father. Murmuring the protection phrase, he opened it up and began reading.

 _Hadrian._

 _I assume you are befuddled about the whole situation with the diary that you received from Rabastan, with me claiming to be writing back to you. I will give you the full explanation when you come back from Christmas. The information is too risky to be written and delivered through owl or a third-party. As you may know, Rabastan recently sent you a diary which was given to him by Snape. Be cautious around Snape at Hogwarts, he is trying to hurt you. For now, just know that he had attempted to do so through the diary Rabastan sent. Enclosed in the package is a replica of the original diary but without the enchantments._

 _I understand this may be difficult, but over the next course of weeks, you will have to start acting as if you were under the diary's influence. The longer that Snape thinks you are exposed to the diary, the more that you'll have to act isolated and odd. But do so in the manner that only Snape would pick up on. It is vital that the headmaster or anybody else bar your closest friends become informed of this. Over the course of the next few weeks, pretend to be more isolated, anti-social, and more malicious. Lash out more, have more emotional outbursts. Stay away from your friends and appear apathetic. After around two months, find a way to get the diary to Snape I am leaving you to your own creative reign for that. Feel free to do whatever you want if the other staff aren't alarmed. Again, I shall explain everything in full context when you return for Christmas._

 _All the best,_

 _Your father_

' _What's it say?'_

He put the letter down. ' _Father wants me to act like I'm under the influence of the diary and get it to Snape somehow. Apparently, he sent me a copy of the diary but without any of the dark enchantments on it which can manipulate the user. God knows what young Tom Riddle controlling Severus Snape could do'_ He shuddered. ' _Anyways, he wants me to get the diary to Snape. Apparently, Snape will destroy it or give it back. If he gives it back, I'll dispose of it through you. Isn't your venom lethal?'_

Sonoro bobbled her head proudly. ' _Yep. Can kill a healthy human in ten minutes'_ When Hadrian raised his eyebrow at her, she quickly added. ' _Don't ask me how I know, okay?'_

' _Okay…Well is it theoretically strong enough to destroy the diary?'_

Sonoro shook her head. ' _From what we saw of the diary, it's uncharmable and indestructible'_

Hadrian frowned. ' _If your venom can't destroy the diary, then probably not a lot of other things can. Besides, what even was the diary?'_

' _No idea, snakeling. Maybe there's some information about it in the library'_ She hissed, getting off her rock slowly.

' _I guess…Cmon, let's go downstairs. The others will be back from breakfast soon'_

He walked over to Sonoro and let her crawl up his forearm, before stowing the parcel and letter into his trunk and going back down the stairs to the common room.

 _Slytherin common rooms, fifteen minutes later…_

"So," Blaise leaned back in the armchair. "What do you all want to do?"

The Slytherin common room was empty. Everybody else was either still at breakfast or somewhere else.

"Hmm, should we explore the castle?" Pansy suggested.

Hadrian shrugged. "Sounds good to me,"

"Why not. We have nothing else to do here. Why do the second years and above get to bring their brooms but we don't?" Draco whined.

Daphne rolled her eyes. "For the last time, Draco. Some of the first years haven't even touched a broom yet, let alone know how to fly. Do you really want Longbottom flying around on the pitch?"

Draco opened his mouth to say something else, probably something to do concerning Lucius.

"Stop arguing, you too. And no, your father can't do anything about it, Draco. Let's go already," Theo said. Draco shut his mouth, Daphne shook her head at Draco, but they both shut up.

As they were walking down the corridor, Theo turned to Hadrian. "What was the parcel and letter about?"

Hadrian paused uncertainly. "Here isn't a good place or time to explain," Theo nodded and they continued walking. The group eventually arrived back at the grand hall, where Theo handed one of the two maps they took to Pansy. A group of Ravenclaw girls were just leaving, talking amongst themselves.

"Let's split up," Theo said. "I'll go with Hadrian and Daphne, Pansy, you go with Draco and Blaise. We'll meet up again at the great hall for lunch and share our findings. Okay?"

"Sounds good to me," Blaise said. Everybody else chorused their agreements.

They split up, with Pansy, Draco and Blaise continuing up the grand staircase, while Hadrian, Draco and Theo went to explore the outdoors, with Sonoro being their impromptu guide.

' _So, down there is the whomping willow'_ Sonoro hissed, peeking her head out of Hadrian's sleeve. ' _I don't advise getting too close to it'_ Hadrian translated to English for Theo and Daphne.

' _Over there is the black lake. Don't worry about the squid, she's quite friendly if you don't disturb her'_

' _And here is Hagrid's hut. Nothing interesting around here, but according to Martha, those pumpkins grow really large around October'_

' _And here is the forbidden forest. Good prey in there'_

The group stopped at the edge of the Forbidden forest. Even at day, the forest looked sinister and mysterious. Daphne cast a tempus.

"We still have an hour before lunch. Should we go back into the castle?" She waved her wand and the tempus disappeared. Beside her, Theo picked up a branch with peculiar slash marks on it, turning it over in his hands.

Hadrian paused for a minute, before deciding that he might as well tell them about the diary then. He cast numerous eavesdropping charms around the area, eliciting a curious look from Theo and Daphne. "Guys," He began. "I have something to tell you," Theo put the branch down, and turned to him. "Recently, you know that parcel I got from Angderr? The one before today?"

Daphne nodded. "The clothes?" Both she and Theo knew that the parcel weren't just clothes. They never were, especially if it was a parcel sent from the dark lord to his son.

"Yeah. Those were actually my transfiguration and charms books from Rabastan and Barty with notebooks. Apparently, the notebook that Rabastan sent me wasn't an actual notebook, but a two-way diary. But Rabastan wasn't the one who was the one writing back to me through the diary. Tom Riddle was,"

Theo frowned. "Your father was writing back to you through Mister Lestrange's notebook?"

Hadrian nodded. "In a way, yes. I talked with the diary for a little, and found out that it wasn't my father, but rather a version of my father in his teens. Rabastan knew that he had sent the diary to me and told my father, who owled me. Apparently, Severus Snape had taken the diary from Malfoy Manor, where Mister Malfoy was entrusted to keep it safe by my father. I returned the diary a few days ago through Professor Quirrel, who is actually an associate of my fathers,"

"Wait," Daphne interjected. "Professor Quirrel knows your father?"

"Yep. It's really rather odd,"

Daphne shrugged. "Sure sounds like it,"

"Anyways, my father wants to know what Snape if I had the diary for an extended period of time. Apparently, if you wrote in it for long enough, it would be able to control you. So he sent me a fake diary replica and a letter explaining it to me. He wants me to act like I've been writing in the diary for the next couple of weeks and eventually get it to Snape,"

"So…for the next couple of weeks you'll be acting weird? And why do you need to get it to Snape?" Theo asked.

"Basically, yeah. Getting it to Snape is really the only way that I can stop acting under the diary's influence. Snape will write in it because it's disguised to look like a notebook or two way notebook with my father, realize it's actually young Tom Riddle and either destroy it or give it back to me. If he gives it back, I'll have an excuse to get rid of it,"

"Why not just pretend that you owled your father about the diary and he told you to destroy it right away?" Daphne cocked her head to the side.

Hadrian shrugged. "According to my father, if somebody started writing in the diary, young Tom Riddle would try to convince them that he's their friend, so they won't suspect anything is wrong. We can't act as if I knew the diary was dangerous in case Snape catches onto the fact we know he's a traitor,"

"So we're bidding our time to confront Snape," Theo said. Hadrian nodded. "When are you going to tell the others?"

"Probably once we get to the privacy of the dorms. Speaking of which, we should get going,"

The three of them made their way back up to the castle. They were still a little early, as lunch was just beginning. However, Draco, Pansy and Blaise were already waiting for them at the entrance, looking rather worn out, Pansy and Draco's usually pristine robes crumpled and messed up. They were all panting. A closer inspection revealed that Blaise had a rather large bump on his forehead.

"What happened to you lot?" Daphne asked curiously.

"You," Blaise panted. "Do NOT want to go onto the fourth floor anytime soon. Gryffindors. Potter and his cronies,"

"Let me guess, Potter and his friends decided to let off dungbombs in the corridor?" Hadrian asked skeptically. The three shook their heads.

"They attacked us. Don't know how they knew we were coming up, but they found us on the fourth floor as we were exploring. They started throwing spells left and right. Blaise got hit by a tripping hex and crashed into a suit of armour, but Draco managed to finite the slug vomiting curse he was hit with. That Blood traitor Lavendar Brown tried to hit me with _Ulcera, Desaungeo_ and _colorifor perma_. I dodged them all," Pansy said proudly once she caught her breath.

"Must have been at least ten of them, all shooting at us. It's a miracle I was the only one injured," Blaise shook his head a little woozily.

Draco sneered. Despite looking like he had just had an encounter with a stray cat trying to eat his robes, he still looked arrogant as ever. "Bet you Potter and his little group thought that they could get away with anything just because he's the golden boy they're Dumbledore's favourites. It was definitely Potter who organised it. As we were getting away, we heard Weasley and Finnegan loudly congratulating Potter on how 'well he planned it'. We'll show them not to mess with us,"

Pansy nodded in agreement, a dangerous glint in her eyes. "Not even being the boy-who-lived is going to save Potter from complete and utter public humiliation," Draco and Blaise both nodded, equally dark and devious looks on their faces at the thought of revenge. A hexing war wasn't unusual; In fact, the six of them had them quite often, especially when an argument, usually between Daphne and Draco, got out of hand. But what Potter and his cronies did was an attack, on pride more than anything else. And as insult to injury, Potter would probably make sure the whole school knew about it before the next morning.

Daphne cleared her throat. "As touching as all this is, you three can scheme about your revenge later, when we will, of course, help you. And I don't know about the rest of you, but I want food." She then turned on her heel and calmly walked into the great hall.

Hadrian had a disgusted sneer on his face, his mind racing. He had an idea on how Potter had known that his friends were coming down the corridor. It seemed that Callistus Potter did take after his brainless father after all, if he thought that he would not be getting any retribution for his actions. Callistus Potter was basically a piece of walking whale ready to be served on a shiny silver platter at a fancy muggle restaurant.

"Cretinism must run in the Potter blood," He snorted, before walking into the great hall and joining Daphne at the table.

' _Snakeling, do you think…?'_ Sonoro hissed. She had been silent the entire time, bristling with anger while listening to Pansy, Draco and Blaise's recount. Hadrian was eternally grateful that she hadn't to speak during it, otherwise he would have been subjected to an earful of curse words in parseltongue from a very irate snake.

' _Something he got from James Potter? Yep. Probably inherited it as an Early Potter Heirloom to help you at school'_

' _This, son, is being passed down to you from the marauders themselves. Use it for good and hex as many slimy snakes as you can for me. Especially try to hex Snivelly Snape'_ She mimicked James Potter's arrogant tone. Hadrian bit back a chuckle at how accurate it was, and took a seat next to Daphne, helping himself to some pumpkin juice.

 **Alright, I finally finished this chapter! I'm publishing this at like 12 AM, but I really wanted to finish it today. I'm sorry it took so long. I can't remember a good chunk of what I wrote in my previous chapters and there's probably major plot holes. But anyways, thanks for reading!**


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